> I'm not sure where you got the idea that the American experiment is about making the government synonymous with the people.
It's a common mistake to conflate the Gettysburg Address ("government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth") and the Preamble of the US Constitution ("We the people...")
The whole point of the electoral college was to intermediate the people and the government. The fear was that information wouldn't travel quickly enough to all edges of the realm, and that people couldn't therefore be trusted to make an electoral decision.
It's a common mistake to conflate the Gettysburg Address ("government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth") and the Preamble of the US Constitution ("We the people...")