Apathy to a purposely broken, oppressive system is not "part of the problem." Parent knows their vote doesn't actually count for much - despite the Republican presidential shenanigans in the US, most politicians up for vote are already part of the machine that needs replacing.

I can't even begin to explain how frustrating it is to be blamed for "the problem" when I tell someone I don't plan to vote. In Philadelphia, it's "Democrat" vs "Democrat" - there hasn't been a serious Republican government in power in 50+ years - and while I tend to lean left, a lack of competition has left a trouble, corrupted government. In PA, we're presented with pre-vetted candidates to choose from. In national elections, if there were 1000 of me it wouldn't matter, our electoral votes go to the Democratic candidate and has since 1998.

Voting is a pointless waste of time for me. There isn't actually a candidate that thinks like I do, and even if there were, I hope they're in the pre-selected party. I don't find the least of evils to be anything but useless to any cause to have government be actually representative or "work for the people."

"If voting changed anything, they’d make it illegal."

Participation in a corrupt system can be seen as granting it legitimacy.

Why would anyone in their right mind play a game that they're guaranteed to lose?

Not really. I would argue that I can realistically have a much greater impact on politics by contributing reasonable amounts of money to a campaign, by hiring a lobbyist, or by forming a vocal special interest group around my ideas which has a PAC. Why be a nameless voter who a candidate doesn't give a shit about when spending some money can literally buy me face time and legitimacy. Moreover, I can do this regardless of who is in power; I don't need to be constrained by political affiliation or a candidate's stated platform which may not mesh well with my ideals.

> I can realistically have a much greater impact on politics by contributing reasonable amounts of money to a campaign, by hiring a lobbyist, or by forming a vocal special interest group

I think that's pretty unambiguously true, but voting is free and relatively easy.

One vote is statistically irrelevant. It's like farting in the wind. No federal office has ever come down to one vote. It's lower than the margin of error in most voting systems.