Yet there are those of us whose eyes are open enough to see that if it became a "pure" popularity contest, based on raw numbers regardless of state lines, the candidates would end up not caring about low-population states. They would just make campaign visits to the big-city states. Which is EXACTLY why the Electoral College was devised. Without it, the low-population states would ALWAYS be at the tail end of the benefits line and would ALWAYS get the dregs. And that is why the EC still retains relevance. It is one of those pesky little "check-and-balance" things. In a country where people can vote for those "grab someone else's money" candidates, those of us who are right on the edge after retirement need to be protected from such politicians. Because, as Greece proved several years ago, socialism fails when they run out of someone else's money to spend.
As to the Texas "winner take all" issue - it might break your heart to hear this, but the U.S. Constitution CLEARLY explains that STATES decide specifics of how they vote. Sure, you COULD simply apportion votes from the electoral districts according to the proportions for each candidate if you wanted. That would be closer to a popular vote method. But if Texas decides to not dilute their state's electoral votes by instead making it a "winner take all" state, that IS their right. It is how you protect people from the greed or envy of others. It is how you prevent the "Tyranny of the Majority" from becoming a major issue.
For what it is worth, the Roman Empire fell because of several factors, one of which was that the Roman citizens discovered that they could vote benefits for themselves, which led to complacency. When you don't have checks and balances in place, people will simply say "take that other person's money 'cause he's got more than I have." And DON'T you DARE say it wouldn't happen, because it happens a lot. Joe Biden's initiative to forgive college loans is an example of taking money away from intended purposes by forgiving those loans that were backed by Congress. But that money was already spent and, if the loan is forgiven, won't be replaced so easily. People need to learn about fiscal responsibility. This country was FOUNDED based on self-sufficiency and personal responsibility.
People need an INCENTIVE to improve themselves. What happened during the COVID era here in the USA is that folks got comfortable on all that federal assistance. But paraphrasing Ben Franklin, hunger is the best incentive.
