"If voting changed anything it would be illegal" has a certain flavor I think you'd enjoy. I happen to agree with you. I believe that voting for anything beyond a city millage has no value, and in fact helps maintain the myth that our democracies are functioning. When people bring up protest as well, I start to laugh, because if you look at the Civil Rights movement, or those who opposed the Vietnam war, if anyone did some of the things they did today, they would be instantly incarcerated. This is not our parents America, or Canada, or anywhere else that is considered 'western' or 'civilized.' Those in actual control of things have realized the mistakes of allowing a near-free society that feels capable of enacting social change, and they are correcting for it, one Patriot Act, or bogus NSA-limiting bill at a time. They might not even be doing this consciously, they might think they are doing it for some quasi-religious/racist/idealistic goal, but the result is the same. More power to national governments and international corporations, less rights and powers to the individual. This isn't a matter of opinion, it is a fact that Americans today are less free, less in control of their government and it's agencies than ever before. (I use the US as example because it's all that I have an understanding of that isn't anecdotal.)