I a 58-year-old American, and have voted in every national, state and local election I could in my lifetime (I even voted for JFK, though it was in a grade school election that didn't count).
In my life, I have experienced the assassination of critical political figures, far too many wars, at least two "official" recessions (and now, possibly, the kind of depression my parents talked about when I was growing up), two impeachments, and terrorist attacks throughout the world and in the city I call home.
I have seen citizens gunned down, penned up, beaten, arrested and jailed for using their Constitutional rights to freedom of assembly and freedom of speech. I have watched candidates for office be mocked, humiliated, lied about, and denied the votes cast for them. I have listened to the foulest epithets that ever sullied the airwaves, even from the mouths of elected officials. I have fought, and voted against, those who have lied, cheated, smeared, gorged themselves on the public's gullibility -- and, time and again, been silenced by the lies and dishonesty of the powerful, even those in the Supreme Court.