Governments derive their power and legitimacy through the concept of Consent of the Governed. This consent may derive due to the citizens being too scared to fight back (authoritarian regimes and monarchies) or a long held belief that their leader is "divinely" or by birthright chosen (again monarchies or theocracies) or revolutionary processes that lead citizens to believe that the new government is popular with the masses and therefore legitimate. And then we have the Consent of the Governed that comes from Democratic processes. In all of these situations the government exists and has legitimacy due to its citizens consenting or at least appearing to consent, and neighboring nations perceiving that legitimacy.
In America the election cycle is the machinery that generates the appearance of consent and legitimacy. But this is obviously breaking down. The two party system has given us candidates that do not do what their constituents want them to do, and they actively work to block any alternative or competing parties from emerging. Hopefully you are aware of the 2014 Princeton study that clearly shows we are an Oligarchy rather than a Democracy. And thus we end up in a situation where we the citizens have no voice anymore. Our Democracy has failed. A telltale sign of this is that Presidents often/always lose support at the midterms. Many different explanations for this, but obviously it is related to the President not doing what they said they would do. If a President did what they promised their base would respond positively and they should be able to gain support. But no, they come into office saying they will end a war or two, they will be fiscally prudent, they will throw crooked bankers in jail, they will allow a full investigation into corruption (think Epstein files), they will create a healthcare system in which we will not fear bankruptcy if we get ill. They say they will end congress day trading with insider information, bring back manufacturing and raise the living standards of working class people. Hope and Change that we can make America Great Again!
But look at the results we get! Do you consent? Do you consent to our Nation supporting what is now nearly universally seen as a Genocide? Do you consent to a President saying he is making plans to "wipe out a civilization"? And high ranking members of the opposition party publicly stating the he needs to go harder against Iran? Do you consent to your party being part of the coverup of the Epstein files? Do you consent to our congress critters buying and selling stock while they have access to insider information.
OF COURSE YOU DO! If you are voting in these elections for either of the two major parties this IS WHAT YOU CONSENT TO.
A vote for Hillary in 2016 is the only reason that Trump had any legitimacy. A vote for Trump in 2020 is the only reason Biden had any legitimacy. And a vote for Kamala in 2024 not only gave Trump legitimacy, but also gave her party a free pass on skipping the primary process and robbing her own party of proper Democratic processes. Your vote, even for the losing side signals Consent and Legitimacy for our increasingly Un Democratic system.
How will Not Voting work to deliver results? First, think about the options for change- Option 1-I think it was the Dems who coined the "More and Better" plan. Elect more of your party and elect leaders who are better than their predecessor, even if they were of the same party. Seriously, how has that worked out for us? Republicans really thought Trump was going to be a new direction for their party. Thankfully the polls tell us many of them are realizing that is not true. Option 2- bloody revolution. Nah. Count most Americans out on that. Our military police apparatus would grind us into the dirt. Option 3- incrementalism- seems way too much like More and Better, and sadly we are just incrementally back sliding. Option 4- third party- seems like an admirable idea, but also has not proven itself workable in many many decades, I think due to the iron grip the two parties have on the levers of power.
So how will Not Voting work? The concept is to get voter participation levels down so low that it is obvious that we are in "pre revolutionary times". Times that make elected officials realize that they better do some of the things that have wide bi partisan support. Spending more money on domestic affairs and less on war. Fighting corruption (friends of Epstein need to be purged). Getting money out of politics. Ending insider trading. Getting the voter participation rate so low that at any social gathering the majority of attendees would shame you for having voted and given consent. Not Voting needs to be more than just Not Voting. It needs to include shaming those who do vote and give consent to a completely indefensible government. Our government would perform better if we signaled to them that we would not accept any more "lesser of two evils" elections, and we are done being humiliated by door knocking and phone banking and financially supporting candidates that sell us out at the first chance.
For me personally making the decision to Not Vote really allowed me to have a better more clear understanding about how bad our politicians and our system of governance actually is. If one remains in a tribalist crouch, continuing to feel the need to defend your party it blocks you from looking in the mirror and seeing things for the way they really are. At one time I was a BO supporter. His promise of real true healthcare reform sucked me in. As he was selling me out I foolishly kept defending him. Shame on me. Then I maxed out supporting Bernie in 2 election cycles. People warned me he was gonna be a sellout. A 17 year old AA male had the best insight that election cycle. I was encouraging him to vote and he said quite succinctly, "that man is gonna sell you out, they always do". Moving on I really appreciated that Trump would at least speak publicly about our need to end our foolish wars and militarism. Not appreciative enough to ever vote for him. But if you hate war it did sound nice.

America, we can do better. Stop consenting to the "Lesser of Two Evils" argument. Stop consenting to unchecked corruption. Stop consenting to endless wars. Stop consenting to two parties who use cultural issues to egg us into fights that prevent us from attending to the issues of healthcare, worker pay, housing costs, predatory banking, education, and rebuilding our manufacturing and productivity base. Stop consenting to your president being so horrible that by the end of their time in office they have destroyed their own party as Clinton, Bush and Obama did and Trump appears to be doing now. Whenever we consent to this horrible governance we give them permission to continue on in their horribleness. We have become a nation of enablers. Stop enabling. Stop Consenting. Boycott voting until we get real change.