we had a choice put before us
We did not. Primaries were cancelled and the general was rigged.
You can bring all kinds of other conjecture
Nothing about this is conjecture. Dems dismantled the machinery that moved people to the polls. Then they lost. Republicans did the opposite and won.
Blaming the little old grandma whose mail in ballot never arrived, the freshly minted teenager who was told they couldn't vote on their college campus, and the perennial Dem whose name got purged from the voter rolls - nevermind the million plus voters in DC who have never been enfranchised in the legislature - that they failed to elect a candidate neck deep up Liz Cheney's asshole because they're bad people isn't going to save your party next election any more than it did last time