I have been proud to engage in the electoral process since I was old enough to do so and have participated (in many actively and avidly) in every election I've ever been registered for. In the past two years (since I last voted) I have realized that EVERY political contender on the ballot has already been bought by "big $$$"...so why bother? Democrat or Republican identifiers (and the realization that the concepts of dichotomy and "zero-sum game" are effectively false) and "ideals" are NOT enough when, once in office, none actually represent "constituent" interests...only "big $$$" interests.

For the first time in my adult life, I refuse to vote. I will continue to refuse as long as dichotomous options are all that are available to vote for. Until then, I will believe this concept of American "democracy" is merely a false amelioration of the masses.

You're right about the money, the reality. But there is a larger moral issue at stake. To disengage from a process others used to fight and die for a chance to do is regressive, not progressive.

Your reasoning is valid. It's just not sound. Vote because you can. Because Gramma Jean, you, I and all the women and girls we know, know how hard it's been for our half, and because G needs a good example of someone making effort for other voters, if not for moneyed interests or representation.

We know the deal. Even if your heart's not in it.
Vote anyway. Like every little thing has consequences we can't see, voting is a good thing that you do.

On May 21st, McKibben published an article on the website of Rolling Stone magazine (later appearing in the magazine's print issue of June 5th), entitled "A Call to Arms,"[4] which invited readers to a major climate march in New York City for the weekend of September 20–21.[note 1] In the article, McKibben calls climate change "the biggest crisis our civilization has ever faced," and predicts that the march will be "the largest demonstration yet of human resolve in the face of climate change."[4]

After criticizing world leaders, including President Obama, for not moving fast enough or going far enough to combat climate change, McKibben cites increasing evidence of environmental deterioration, including the melting of Arctic and Antarctic ice, the acidification of the oceans, and violent weather and quotes one climate scientist as exclaiming "We're all sitting ducks." He blames this state of affairs primarily on the fossil-fuel industry, which “by virtue of being perhaps the richest enterprise in human history, has been able to delay effective action, almost to the point where it's too late.” Although he claims that local, small-scale activism is crucial, the global climate justice movement sometimes "needs to come together and show the world how big it's gotten," and to allow for "opening up space for change."

Writes McKibben: "A loud movement – one that gives our 'leaders' permission to actually lead, and then scares them into doing so – is the only hope of upending" the "prophecy" that it’s already too late to reverse the problem.[4]