Marc Andreessen has found a clever justification for dismissing democratic oversight of technology. Over the past year, the billionaire venture capitalist has repeatedly invoked a century-old idea from the German sociologist Robert Michels: the “Iron Law of Oligarchy.” Michels’s theory holds that complex organizations such as a government — even those founded on democratic ideals — inevitably become dominated by a small elite.

Andreessen doesn’t cite this theory to critique power or warn against it. Rather, he distorts it to justify why his class of Silicon Valley “builders” should be in charge. “The Iron Law of Oligarchy basically says democracy is fake,” he concludes from his simplistic reading of Michels’s argument. Andreessen’s understanding echoes the logic Benito Mussolini used to justify fascism in Italy.

If rule by elites is inevitable, Andreessen’s argument goes, we should stop pretending otherwise and get out of their way. Let the builders build. Let the engineers and investors lead. Let public institutions fall in line.