This just isn’t true. Only one state in the 2020 primaries showed increased turnout among young voters, Iowa, while big states like New Hampshire and Michigan saw sizable declines[0].
There was just no way that a candidate like Bernie Sanders was going to overcome the momentum of the DNC without huge turnout, which never materialized. If the citizens don’t vote, we’re gonna be stuck with people who’ve amassed political power and likely done some terrible stuff along the way in their personal lives. Participation is critical, and mass movements have taken hold many times in American history. The issue facing us now is figuring out how to overcome the passive entertainment that is social media and traditional media and actually participate in the political process.
You weren't around for the whole South Carolina-Super Tuesday week? Remember, Sanders was the clear leader after Nevada. Biden was an also-ran. How did that change so quickly? How, indeed.
Blaming the voters is easy. The national news media corporations don't report on the many hours that urban and minority voters waited to vote in Texas, California, Michigan, Georgia, etc. since numerous polling places and voting machines were removed. They don't report on "provisional ballot" shenanigans. They don't report on the double-digit percentage differences between exit polls and results, when the UN considers 4% differences to be clear evidence of vote-rigging.
But we don't have to get bogged down in pesky details. They can't report around the obvious fact that while this system might be working for someone, it ain't working for us. We've failed as hard on Covid-19 as we've failed on "spreading democracy" and "The Drug War", and the whole world can see it. We'll reelect Trump because he's on TV all day, which is why we elected him in the first place. Sure, we could ask why voters are so dumb that they'll vote based on that sort of thing. Or, we could just not have him on TV all day. Could we try that? While we're at it, could we not have as his opposition someone who is worse than him by pretty much any measure?
I'm not sad that Bernie isn't the nominee. As feckless as he's been for the last month, it's clear Trump would have abused him in the debates just as thoroughly as he will abuse Biden. The point is, we shouldn't expect that the function of voting in this nation will just miraculously change from how it has been for 70 years, just because we really want it to. The flawed system will not fix the flaws in the system. When the opportunity for a real change appears, it will be attacked by defenders of the status quo on precisely these terms: it's not democratic like voting! Those attacks won't come because they want a real change.
Criticizing voting perpetuates the system that produces the candidates that you dislike. Grassroots efforts only work when people get out and vote.