There are entrenched entities heavily invested, literally and figuratively, in aligning the government with their interests, and against the interests of the majority. Their primary methods are propagandizing the gullible to vote for the representatives they have invested in, and fomenting apathy in those they cannot propagandize.
The solution is two-fold: supporting candidates aligned with your interests throughout their career from local elections up to more powerful ones, and voting in every election for the front-runner who is less detrimental to those interests.
If you think the current government has their heads in their asses, it’s a good bet that this two-fold solution takes the form of voting for progressives in local elections and greater primaries, and showing up to vote for whichever of the front-runner candidates is comparatively more progressive.
Voting for a candidate that is progressive but vastly unlikely to win is counterproductive. Not voting because none of the likely candidates is sufficiently progressive is counterproductive.
If everyone understood this, and showed up to vote, within a few election cycles we’d have a government composed of un-assed heads.
I just want reliable long-term storage. Even if it’s a trickle of power coming out, I want it to be reliable and large, so that I can just throw energy at it when I don’t need it and can rely on it when I do.