You hear someone say, "But I don't like colas." And your response is, "You still need to drink one, so pick."
If you don't vote, it could just be because you feel that every option is equally bad. People decline to vote for a variety of reasons, but not having any appealing options is certainly a very common one.
I personally don't even know the difference between Coke and Pepsi. I like grapefruit juice. If a saw orange juice--or even apple juice--on the ballot, I might vote for it. But year after year, it's always cola versus cola. My concern is if I vote for one or the other, someone might think that's what I actually wanted. I think there are a lot of other people out there that do vote for a cola when they actually want beer, or tea, or water, or purple drank, or merlot, or lemonade, or vodka. So when they see a Mr. Pibb or a Dr. Pepper in the wings, they jump on that like a Fremen after a week in the desert with a torn stillsuit.
Trump's popularity derives from the enforced homogeneity of the elections. Neither major party wants to allow a fringe candidate, because they think those extremists that would otherwise peel away should be voting for them. So they have both painted themselves into the same corner.
Maybe you should follow up that "Do you vote?" question with "Do you actually want the things you vote for?" My opinion is that if you cannot vote for something you want, the vote is not democratic. It becomes a cargo cult ritual in imitation of democracy.
The crisis is not lack of voting. It is that people can no longer effectively express their will through voting. And that came about due to politics as usual. Gerrymandering. Restrictive ballot access laws. Winner takes all elections. Pre-primary deal-brokering. Media spin.
So thanks for your opinion on the importance of voting, but I simply don't see it that way. There are more options for you to choose from than those that are laid out for you. Sometimes you just have to kick over the cups and stab the giant in the eye.
That is why it is important to be an influence with the vote.
I never pull the party lever but I also know local politics really is the foundation for our political system and if you like Cherry Coke let your local politician know what you want. Heck follow them on FaceBook and talk with them.
Non-cola-likers have always fared better with protest demonstrations, news media publicity, and rights-based lawsuits. Voting has done nothing.
With the entrenched structure of the system in place, any issue that is not likely to switch your vote from Coke to Pepsi, or vice versa, can be safely ignored. Don't like that much sugar/HFCS? Ignored. Don't like carbonation? Ignored. Don't like caramel color? Ignored. Don't like phosphoric acid? Ignored. But if you like Cherry Coke better than regular Coke, well then Pepsi might just trial-run a Lemon Pepsi! Do I vote for that because it is closer to grapefruit juice than anything else on the ballot, or not vote for it because it's still just another falalahking cola?
The only group likely to make even a tiny dent in the status quo of Beverageland is the people who like coffee. But coffee never stands for election. Nobody ever even considers that coffee might be better than any cola. What does this mean metaphorically? I don't know; it ran away from me there.
If you don't vote the rest really doesn't matter that much.
If someone is complaining about government the first thing I ask is "Do you vote?" Voting is the Democratic government system by its very definition. If you say you don't vote I really (Wrongly) don't want to hear any complaints because you removed yourself from our political system. We are in crisis in United States due to lack of voting to the point where only extremist vote and the majority voluntarily hand over the political powers to extremist. This is why reasonable people have a hard time getting past the primaries in national elections i.e. Trump's popularity is decided by extremist. The MORE people vote the weaker extremist voices matter.