I'm really sympathetic to all you say. I get the frustration and anger - I've had it for years.

Alas....

They exist as the last wall between more serious leftists and actual change.

It's not a wall. More of a roadblock that can be moved or even removed. We've seen progress, which I get is easy to forget.

The issue is this: pointing all this out and being vocal about the issues is important but does not itself solve the problem. We can protest and complain all we want and it does not result in actual change. And this is kind of the central problem - folks such as yourself (and me, at one time) harp on how bad things are under both parties and even refuse to participate. We don't get politically involved, don't vote, and just complain.

That does not move the needle and never will.

As many have pointed out, with Democrats you can move the needle. You can elect and re-elect progressive candidates and push elected officials to enact progressive legislation. It does actually happen but too often this fact get's forgotten or ignored in all the doom and gloom. Meanwhile, because we didn't get 100% of what we wanted and kept complaining about how nothing changes (when in fact it does) we end up with a neo-fascist authoritarian regime with which there will be NO negotiation, NO active or meaningful protests and during which we will take many many steps backward. Seriously, we are looking at a Christian Nationalist takeover of government and all that entails. This is REALLY bad.

A cynical and less tolerant person would say "stop complaining and do something about it". I would say "ok, I hear your complaints and agree. What are we going to do about it?"