>>103070914On the other hand, the electoral college as originally designed had an important purpose. The framers were by and large against the idea of direct democracy as most of us know, and the electoral college was intended to be yet another layer of separation between the people and their government.
Its primary purpose is to ensure that smaller states are not marginalized, but its secondary and lesser known purpose was that if the impassioned masses elected through the popular vote an incompetent, a demagogue, a lunatic, or anybody else you wouldn't want running the country, the electoral college would in theory deny them the office.
As may be gleaned from the current state of affairs, most of the electors who had the absolute right to deny Trump the office didn't do so, thus failing in their duty as the very first check on the executive. With the arguable exception of Andrew Jackson, this check went unneeded for so long that it atrophied, and a surprising number of people I've spoken to didn't know that this was a thing because they weren't taught so.
I like the idea of the electoral college, but if it isn't working, perhaps reforms are in order. But we are not a direct democracy and were never intended to be such. Abolishing the college altogether and relying solely on the popular vote isn't the way to go.
