I have participated in democracy exactly once. It was the only time in my life I was eligible to vote. My vote made no difference and the course the United States took is now irreversible.

Prior to being able to vote, I watched one unsatisfactory candidate after another get elected to the US Presidency despite the obvious presence of a much preferable and more qualified candidate.

Still, even if I had voted and my preferred candidates had won, it's not clear to me that this would have changed anything. Our world is not run in public.