problems with the electoral college

So, lets do a little intro here, I'm Ali G and I'll be doing some guest posts here every now and again. Today I'm going to discuss something near and dear to my heart, my supreme dislike and disapproval of the electoral college.
Now I know it's popular, especially among those who share my somewhat liberal political views to bash the electoral college just because they can. However, I take serious issue with its existence for several reasons. Number one, it's unnecessary. The electoral college was only established in order to convince the smaller colonies to join the union. It contributes nothing to the democratic process, and in many cases it proves a hindrance to the electoral process. The electoral college actually removes power from the hands of each individual voter and gives it to the bureaucratic machine of the college instead. If a candidate wins a given state's popular vote even by a 1 or 2 percent, the candidate wins ALL of the electoral votes for that state. The populace is misrepresented and their voice mangled.
Think I'm being overly dramatic? Well then, lets look at the most infamous example of the electoral college malfunctioning, the first election one George Walker Bush. In this case, it is widely accepted that Gore won the popular vote, but Bush, as we know, won the election. Now all the blame cannot be laid upon the electoral college, the Supreme Court's poor decision making deserves its share of the blame. However, it is hard to argue that, had we only counted the popular vote and not used the electoral college, George W. Bush would be President.
So the electoral college still isn't a big deal?
Don't worry I'm not ready to shut up yet.
My next issue with the electoral college is that it contributes to the disenfranchisement of American voters. Don't get me wrong, American voters disenfranchise themselves perfectly well without the aid of an outside agency, but the electoral college multiplies that disenfranchisement tenfold. Citizens in "very red" or "very blue" states are less likely to vote since they think their vote won't count since their state's electoral vote has already been decided. Additionally, national candidates, like those for Presidents, don't devote as much time to states whose electoral votes are already virtually decided, devoting all of their time instead to several swing states.
My final point is that the electoral college's winner-takes-all attitude makes it very difficult for third parties to enter government. And, as Jason previously posted on this blog, third parties are often the ones with the most innovative ideas and proposals for governance, and the electoral college provides them with yet another hurdle to jump over in order to gain what every American should have in this country, a political voice.