Is Voting for National Politicians Dangerous?

Here's an article by Eric Zuesse opining "Why Calling U.S. a "Democracy" is both False and Dangerous to Do."

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/03/15/why-calling-us-democracy-both-false-dangerous-do.html

Zuesse is one of the few who keeps the hammer down on this important issue, democracy.  He rightly explains how we don't live in a democracy and explains how it's actually dangerous to say so.

"Every time that the US perpetrates a coup (such as it’s trying now to do against Venezuela) or a military invasion (such as it did to Iraq 2003 and Libya 2011 and Syria 2012- and to Yemen 2015-, and many others) the US regime and its propagandists call it an action ‘for humanitarian purposes’, and for regime-change ‘to bring democracy and human rights’ to that country, and it’s always lies, which wouldn’t even be believed by anyone who knows that the US itself is actually a dictatorship, which it is. So, the lie of calling the US a ‘democracy’ is actually okaying a lying dictatorship by using, for it, the term “democracy,” which this particular dictatorship chooses to refer to itself, for PR purposes.

Calling the US a ‘democracy’ is to support this government that the entire world (in the only polls that have been done of the matter) recognizes to be the most aggressive and dangerous regime on Earth. To smear the good name of “democracy” that way, by calling the world’s most rapacious Government a ‘democracy’, is to assist in corroding that high term of praise, “democracy,” and turning it instead into an insult, which applies to what is actually the globally recognized most aggressive and dangerous nation on this planet."

I've thought that for some time, that if we should form an independent movement for democracy and expose the lies and illusions we've all lived with our entire lives.  We can't make the changes we need with this political system, ruled by the rich.  Any type of valid response to climate change, a nationalized health care system, save Social Security, ending U.S. imperialism, etc., will not happen through this duopoly political system.  Just look at the time they're wasting now, with a democratic party majority in Congress, while not addressing anything of substance to help the bottom 80%, except a pay raise for themselves.  

So if it's dangerous to call this a democracy, is it also dangerous to participate in this fraud of an election process between the two oligarchy controlled political parties?  Isn't that also providing legitimacy to the ruling class system and smear the good name of elections?