It is consistent to say that it never was; it just happened to usually align with the popular vote. Suppose there was a little Eastern European country where t

It is consistent to say that it never was; it just happened to usually align with the popular vote. Suppose there was a little Eastern European country where the election procedures were the same as the USA's. We would certainly criticize them every time the popular vote said A and the weird political procedure said B and got to overrule the popular vote. In fact, if they had oil or it were otherwise advantageous, we would likely invade, fracture them into smaller countries more amenable to our interests, and then abandon them.