I realize is a republic and not a direct democracy, but shouldnt the people have DIRECT say in who the president is???
No. They've demonstrated repeatedly how ignorant they can be. The electoral college exists as the final barrier between the safety of the republic and the idiots who can vote. The EC saved us from Al Gore, didn't it? Bush wasn't any great shakes, but he didn't live on the other side of the ozone layer.
Are the masses really so incompetent that they need a small group of people to determine who the president is incase the popular vote is the "wrong decision?"
You better believe it. Most Americans attended a publicly funded high school, for Pete's sake. That means they for the most part can't identify the origin of the phrases "We the People", "In the Course of Human Events", and "Give me liberty or give me death". They probably can't find Isreal on a map, identify the capital of their home state, define the word "bicameral" (many will search Internet porn for that one), or define what is meant by a "republican government".
They're flimsy on economics and many believe balancing a checkbook will overload their little coke scales. Many can only say "tax the rich", and can't explain the Laffer Curve.
A majority won't be able to name the Allies and the Axis in WWII or cite the basis of the Cold War. The reasons for the War of 1812 will as obscure to many of them as the year it started. They'll believe the US stole California from Mexico.
They look upon a job as a right, not a function.
They've been trained by the public schools to be obedient to secular authority, to understand that the 1960's was an era of protest but that they should not question the government.
They're friggin' ignorant doorstops that no sane republic would allow in a polling booth.
You want to eliinate the Electoral College?
Shouldn't you eliminate the ignorance of the electorate first?