I don't agree with most/all of ilaksh's points. But it is worth noting that miners are 100% fungible, which reduces their ability to extract economic rent in the process. In effect "being a middleman" has been rendered a substitutable commodity.

Without miners there would be no certification of the blockchain. This is pretty much the central point of the technology.

Calling them middlemen couldn't be more wrongheaded.

Its like calling farmers "middlemen" because after all the sun / seeds ultimately grow the plant.

The other middlemen are the hoarders. If BTC inflates in value, then the hoarders will benefit.

BTC obscures the middlemen. It doesn't remove them.

Miners produce actual value by processing transactions and generating new coins. So they are more like base-men.