Yes, we are well aware that we’re held hostage by an antiquated system of voting. What you refer to as “indirect” is called the Electoral College. This is why a state like North Dakota gets the same representation in the senate as New York or California. And with our winner take all system, a handful of competitive states decides the outcome for the entire country. So if your candidate gets 270 electoral college votes - a slight majority, he/she wins, even if the majority of the country voted against him/her. Hmm, I wonder if those same rules of the game were applied to any other situation, that would seem fair.