ID: a photo of a child scratching their head looking confused and maybe anxious, the text above says: “Damn… I’m kinda tired of living inside a giant pyramid scheme controlled by criminals who gaslight us into believing they are the good guys.”
ID: a photo of a child scratching their head looking confused and maybe anxious, the text above says: “Damn… I’m kinda tired of living inside a giant pyramid scheme controlled by criminals who gaslight us into believing they are the good guys.”
The guys at the top of the pyramid here are the politicians. Regulatory capture, super PACs and blatant bribes are also part of the political machine and they influence the actions of those at the top. What trap are we falling for?
So there’s a video by CGP Grey that I tend to recommend to people a lot, The Rules for Rulers.
In the framework he presents for democracy, business interests (capitalists) are named as one of the keys to power that politicians need. However, one could argue that it’s actually the (mostly cohesive) capitalist class at the top of the pyramid. The individual politicians would be their keys to power, which the capitalists distribute treasure to in order to keep them loyal (and in office).
Or maybe the reality of the situation is that it’s something that falls between the two views, without neatly fitting into either of them. All models are wrong, but some models are useful, as the saying goes. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
In a shift from democracy to fascism (Coming Soon™), the capitalists do (mostly willingly) become subordinated to the strong man, so that would fit with your conception of the situation.