The electoral college keeps in check the voting power of each individual state. While bigger states are still more powerful, it's not as disproportionate as it would be with direct popular vote. For example, if Candidate X carries California, and Candidate Y carries Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin, then at this point, both candidates would be tied at 55 electoral votes. Under direct popular vote, however, Candidate X would be so much further ahead because California has so many more people than even the second-most populous state (Texas), let alone those four states combined. What I'm trying to say is that the Founding Fathers created the Electoral College for a reason, and I don't think it's anyone's job to say that it doesn't work.
Also keep in mind that with only four exceptions in our nation's history thus far, the winner of the popular vote and the electoral college have been the same. And ironically, if it weren't for 2000, most of the people on this uber-liberal forum wouldn't be advocating for repealing the electoral college.
First, the electoral college does not safeguard the voting power of small states. To the contrary, most of the small states are currently not "swing states," and as a result the votes of the people in these states are virtually meaningless under our current system. If you live in Utah, does your vote really hold any sway since everyone knows that unless Hell freezes over (or Joseph Smith's ghost announces that he is endorsing the Democratic candidate on CNN) Utah is going to go for the GOP. The same holds true in the vast majority of small states including Wyoming, Idaho, Vermont, Rhode Island, ect. ect. The only exceptions to this general truth are New Hampshire, Nevada, Iowa, and perhaps New Mexico (although New Mexico appears to be losing some of its "swinginess based upon the 2008 and 2012 results).
Second, your claim that "the founding fathers created the Electoral College for a reason, and I don't think it's anyone's job to say that it doesn't work" is silly in my opinion. The founding fathers also condoned slavery for a reason, but no rational persons believes that slavery shouldn't have been abolished. The Electoral College is outdated and needs to be replaced so that the votes of people in Wyoming and Massachusetts count just as much as the votes of people in Ohio and Virginia. As a resident of the state of Tennessee, which has become a non-swing state in recent elections, I am sick and tired of my vote not counting the same of someone who lives in one of the "swing states."
