The “pyramid society” is a well known concept–the architectural analogy for the totalitarian state managing all of society and making it function better than it ever could without such a controlling political authority. The few at the top guide the rest beneath them.
But the power of the image relies on a hidden reversal of reality. The pyramid is supposed to represent a stable society in which the top directs the rest.
But where does the stability of the pyramid come from? It comes from the distribution of weight on the wider layers of brick. The lower levels support and raise up the fewer at the top.
If the concept of elite management were to be accurately represented by the pyramid, it should picture the structure standing on its point. The pyramid is wrongly used as a metaphor to promote what is really an upside down pyramid.
Consider, for example, what kind of society could best help its needy members. There are probably many qualities such a society should possess, but a basic prerequisite is this:
Each individual must, all things being equal, believe it is a duty, privilege, and/or virtue to produce more than he consumes.
Notice that a society where people are encouraged to rely on others would end up being a society that would, at some point, not have enough wealth to help the growing number of needy.
Using the pyramid illustration to describe a “welfare state” society hides what is really going on. A free and un-managed society with an understood code of conduct is more like a pyramid in which every brick is able to bear proper weight and keep the structure balanced.
Solomon gives us the two options for us to choose between.
Go to the ant, O sluggard;
Proverbs 6.6-8
consider her ways, and be wise.
Without having any chief,
officer, or ruler,
she prepares her bread in summer
and gathers her food in harvest.
And then:
The hand of the diligent will rule,
Proverbs 12.24
while the slothful will be put to forced labor.
So free people work themselves. Otherwise, someone else will work them.