Rug pulls, forks, and open-source feudalism

Exactly; there are many mechanism in-place that allow us (anybody) to create alternatives if the currently dominant players start to misbehave too much; they just have not

And there are mechanism that restrict you. The article states it too: There is a resource (for software, id add knowhow) asymmetry and market innertia at play here.

Otherwise, im am really wishing for alternative payment processors ... could someone proove me wrong here please.

BTC ecosystem is growing strong :) Especially the Lightning Network