The core of the argument—that the United States is not a democracy but a republic—is not wrong; it just has nothing to do with the Electoral College. Being a republic is not a justification for our republic to work anti-democratically. So let’s define some terms: In a “direct democracy,” the people vote for their laws. Every law. All the time. We have some aspects of direct democracy today (voter referendums are an example of direct democracy), as do a number of other nations. The most recent example of direct democracy being applied in the modern context is, probably, Brexit, but you see how that worked out for them. For the most part, direct democracies have proven unworkable throughout history because laws are complicated, and people are busy and largely uninformed.