Until it did, and which is why we're in the middle of a real, honest to goodness revolutionary war, even though many cannot see it.
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I think we're in a glass half-full vs. half-empty discussion.
My "half-full" perspective is that "We the People" still had the power, we simply were not supposed to become aware of it.
Yet, as you said, a "Singularly unique" individual came along, truly a force in history, and exceeded the norms of control.
Before Trump; many of us knew about the "prison"... the international money power, their controlled media and politicians, and other factors you mentioned ... but we did not realize we had the power to change it!
An analogy that comes to mind is that of a rider on a horse. The rider cannot really control the horse unless the horse allows him to do so. The horse may be too stupid to know this ... but what if it suddenly became aware of the truth? The rider would then be helpless against the powerful beast.
President Trump has let us know--at least 62 million of us--that we have the power. Now the challenge is to red-pill as many as possible. I believe the success or failure of this endeavor (red-pilling) will determine the outcome of the revolution you described.
Reminds me of the apocryphal story where a Roman senator suggested requiring slaves to wear identifying insignia. The idea was shelved when the government realized what would happen when the 50-75%+ of the population who were slaves suddenly became aware of their absolute numbers.
In current times, I've commented on occasion about the need for the cabal to gain total information superiority. Everyone is familiar with modern day military doctrine of air superiority, but absolute media control can defeat an enemy (ie the deplorables) before a shot is fired.