There's a couple of key ideas presented in this incredibly important article that I'd like to expand upon:

"We could be putting our time, attention and energy into truly furthering humanity and our own lives, but we are being directed... into specific directed avenues..."

The role of attention is core to humanity and cannot be overstated. It's where our free will resides - we choose where to place our attention, and energy flows where attention goes.

This is the whole game. It's why there's billboards on the highway and neon signs on store fronts. It's why the news is constantly reporting on the comings, goings and doings of politicians. It's why there so much focus on generating the fear required to justify institutionalized authoritarianism. It's all a magic act, in every sense of the word - the David Copperfield slight-of-hand variety, and in some cases, ritualistic appeals to subtle powers.

"The system does allow for a proxy of "freedom"..."

In addition to the methodologies listed, we can add the political process itself. The illusion of choice between left and right gives the people a way to "overthrow" a rancid administration and claim a victory for the people. It focuses attention on changing laws and changing parties to solve problems, which vents revolutionary fervor. It allows each party to push their agenda further, faster, because that escape valve acts as a safety net to prevent them from going past a point of no return. This is immensely important to maintain the power structure.

The promise of change resides in the alternate party, who has definitively different platforms, and the two appear to be opposing each other. In reality, each simply focuses on different areas of the same agenda, creating a left/right march toward the desired destination.