I have always voted for them in the past; they looked to more conservative constituencies anyway. Seems like always voting for them just means they take my vote for granted.

Huh. That's odd. Democrats have been trending to the left.

If this is your idea of a functioning democracy, I question why you even believe in democracy in the first place.

As it stands, I think US government badly needs some changes. FPTP is terrible, too many officials (SCOTUS, Congress, president) serve until they're at death's door, the electoral college never worked as intended, and money has too much influence. But this is all fixable, even if it's hard. Those will change things, not staying home and pretending that a politician gives a rat's ass about you if you refuse to turn out every time you don't get your way.