Exactly. I agree 100%. The system is what it is and it will only change over the course of lifetimes, not years. Unless your solution is violent revolution in which case I’d still say to also cast meaningful votes based on some criteria of your choosing. I guess you could vote Republican on the hopes a fascist America would more quickly be overthrown internally or externally. That sounds like a terrible timeline to live through, though.

Then I’d say your options are relocate to somewhere with a more appealing government or cede electoral power to others. Third parties are irrelevant on the national scale, and only slightly less so on the state scale.

Agitate for RCV or other election reforms that make third parties more relevant, but until that’s the case I’ll stand by my earlier assertions.

If you want democrats to be a certain way, vote for those democrats in primaries and local elections. You have to fix it from the bottom up and from within.

You will, however, be politically impotent in that case. Checking out of democracy because one option is only incrementally better than the other isn’t really helping anyone.