Why is the Electoral College needed anyway?

Yet again I came across an intelligent individual proposing a solution without fully comprehending its ramifications on one of the boards I frequent. This time it is the Electoral College was in the line of fire.

Here's the solution: get rid of the electoral college. That's what's keeping the two parties in power.

If you remove the Electoral College what is the consequence of that action? You will have even less influence upon the election of a President.

Why? You might ask. Easy. We are then just a straight Democracy rather than a Representative Republic. In a Democracy we would be subjected to the whims of the three to five most populous states. Thus, California, Florida, New York, Illinois and Pennsyvania would be SELECTING your next President. I don't know about you but that sounds very BAD to me. It is the Electoral College that evens out the playing field and forces candidates to enter the heartland and the rustbelt. Without it you can bet places like Oklahoma, Wyoming, Kentucky, The Dakota's and my home state of Alaska would NEVER EVEN BE VISITED. They would be ruled by the mobs in the big cities. That is why the electoral college was created. That is why even though it appears to be an archane system, it really is quite ingenious.

Our Founding Fathers were not short sighted in the least when they instituted the Electoral College. They were wise beyond their years!

Don't have good ideas if you aren't willing to be responsible for them. -- Alan J. Perlis, Epigrams, 1970s