[ravenstine]

If want someone to give you permission to leave, you don't need that. The question you are asking is its own answer. What you are looking for is not advice but for someone to indirectly assure you that you aren't crazy in feeling this way. I know it sounds harsh for me to point that out, but it's something you should bring into full awareness.

I haven't been in quite the same spot, but I did work for a company that really didn't know what it wanted, so there were long period of either no work or short periods of sudden enthusiasm behind X idea followed by an immediate "no, that's costing us money. kill the project immediately." While it would have done me a disservice to have left the company too soon, I was there for a year before I decided to leave, and even that was too long in retrospect. As others have said, it's soul-sucking and just a waste of time even when you're contently complacent. You have a limited life time and a small supply of creative energy, neither of which your company may deserve. That's just my perspective.