Mike, there is a reason why so many people don't vote nowadays. It's an instinctive reaction on the part of the genuinely powerless. Whether they reason it out or not (and most of them don't, of course), people instinctively realize, at some subconscious level, or maybe at the conscious level...that the parties and the system are in fact unresponsive to their wishes and their real needs and have been bought out by major financial interests. They realize it's a setup. They realize it's a charade.

If you had a REAL political system which actually was responsible and responsive and honest, I believe you'd see an over 95% voter turnout.

The emperor has no clothes. People realize it at some level and they become apathetic. They don't vote.

I consider the political system to be mostly pure flim-flammery...but I do vote. Every time.

Why? Not because I think it'll make any difference, but because then guys like you can't say that I have no right to say anything about it because I didn't vote. (grin)

In any case, I usually vote for whoever I think is the best candidate in my riding. That's usually someone who doesn't have much chance of winning, but c'est la vie.