I ran into this stuff in the late 1970's. My mother ran into it in the 1950's. Nothing has changed, other than the politicians have advanced the agenda, and have more control -- exactly as planned 100 and more years ago.
This "system of government," including a charade for a vote, is taught, openly. It is political science. The people are deliberately dumbed down, a process that became easy with the advent of radio, and trivially easy with teevee.