Reading this, I find myself asking "Colby, isn't this what you're doing yourself by not voting?" It's just a question, and I don't have a solid answer.

Before it became a meme, I saw the last two presidential elections as a referendum on the Constitution, if not democracy itself. Is that a referendum you feel good about sitting out? Are you comfortable with either result?

While I agree that your vote doesn't count (for decades I didn't vote for the same reason) I've come to feel that a belief in our Constitutional democracy calls for voting. How strong can my belief in democracy really be if I don't participate in it?

Somewhat separately, there's this idea that we deserve better choices. Deserve from who? Our government? Our political parties? In a way that's a circular or paradoxical belief, because we elect our government (who largely control the parties) -- which suggests we aren't electing the people who will give us good choices (of which sitting out elections is a part.)

I realize our government is controlled by moneyed interests. But in the end, our only palatable reasonable recourse is through elections. I realize it could (and likely will) take generations to vote a critical mass of money (and greed for power) out of politics. All the more reason to start voting aggressively for it now.

I'm just sharing my thoughts and questions. Maybe they're flawed, which I always welcome hearing about. But for me it's not about convincing (or being convinced by) anyone about anything.