Try telling that to every country ever invaded, every rebellion ever crushed, every dissident ever imprisoned.

I'm the guy that invaded them. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Kanye is right: slavery is a choice. I know power is illusory because I've pointed guns at people who don't comply, and also don't give a shit. Protip: you have no power over dead bodies. They're inanimate and can't listen to you. Power is not tangible, can't be given, and can only be perceived by those whom are willing to subject themselves to someone else.

No one is handed power, they take it. Thinking you're just ever handed power is actual slave mentality.

You don't know what slave mentality is. In any case, what I'm saying here is that a person acquiesces to your will under specific circumstances. The best one is one where they willingly acquiesce by deference to your competence. That is what it means to "give power". They are effectively making their agency, yours.

I was never talking about personal power, you illiterate dolt

Then you're not talking about anything at all. Power outside of the bounds of individuals is nothing but a desperate attempt at a statistical abstraction. A "group power" analysis is meaningless.

molding what young people think, turning them into activists, AND getting paid to do it? Now THAT'S power

That's merely soft-power, and again, that's not the same as a power-delivery-vehicles. They don't give power to others, they only use their power on others. That's a whole different concept.