I mean both. And there is some merit to the criticism that both liberals and left can be seen as smug. Again, it’s not all but many from both groups are. Thing is, as many people have been lifted out of poverty, the traditional base of the left that is the working class have become middle class to upper class themselves. Many of those folks may still say they identify as leftist, but they became privileged and do not realise or acknowledge it. They may say that they believe in social and economic justice and mention they feel bad for the poor and homeless; but at the same time block the push for building affordable housing because “it ruins the view from their back garden” or they won’t say that it depreciates the value of their property. “Champagne socialists” and “limousine liberals” are real and rightful pejorative terms after all.

Let’s agree to disagree but I think social democracy is the best system one could go so far. I am very sympathetic to worker-run organisations but if it is so effective, why hasn’t everybody set them ubiquitously? Co-operatives exist and there is absolutely no reason to prevent people to create them (however, I am surprised to hear that many Americans never heard of co-ops and found it to be an alien idea so it is not common in the US). The main issue with worker-run businesses is that people usually elect to increase their wages so it could negatively affect the operational cost.

I very much agree with you that mass immigration affect working class wages. I have worked various jobs both blue and white collar jobs. When I was working on the factory floor, so many immigrants work excessive hours without question. They would even want to work seven days straight if they could. It raises the expectations for everyone since the management is using the outlier as the new norm, which causes resentment from other workers who are expected to follow impossible standards. But the problem with it is that due to cost of living crisis, our wages isn’t sufficient. The wages barely nudged for factory, blue collar workers since the pandemic. Because many immigrants benchmark their current earnings to that from what they were earning in their old country, they personally feel much wealther. They don’t question their current wages, and so companies offer that wage rate which do not stack up with the rising inflation. Immigrants are also less likely to unionise, which is why many businesses prefer to hire them. So, I can kinda see now why many local working class inhabitants feel resentment.

I am an immigrant myself so I can’t complain and blame other immigrants; but I grew up in the West so I am Westernised. I am class conscious fortunately due to my education and having grown up in the West where the history of putting down the working class is taught. But many immigrants have different experiences and education so they are less class conscious. What many immigrants only have known in their lives is struggle and making ends meet. They have little time to think above the basic security needs if we look at Maslow’s hierarchy of needs (and also humans inherently crave to look for approval from others through work).

The main cause I believe is the mismanagement of globalisation. The current international order is actually an anarchy but only very few realise this. Social democracy is accused of still enabling exploitation of workers in developing countries. But it is as if wealthy social democratic countries have jurisdictions to tell other governments to improve the working conditions of their own citizens and the environment. The minimum wage in richer countries is considered upper class salary in developing countries. Thus, many immigrants come in droves to developed countries which in turn drive down wages for the working class in those countries. The perception is skewed because of global wealth disparity, which then manifests materially resulting in pitting the working class among each other, whether one is white, black, Asian, Indonesian, Irish etc. Needless to say, there is no global minimum wage to standardise for everyone. And for that to happen, there has to be a global authority to set the proper working conditions and equalise the playing field for everyone. I’m actually an advocate for a global government for this reason and among many others.

Nation states have their own different rules which does not correspond with one another. This creates what is essentially a fiefdom of sorts with citizens of each countries are being manipulated by their own elites to enrich themselves at the expense of the masses. In spite of rhetoric we hear from elites, international laws are toothless because they do not have legal power and authority. National laws take more precedence. That’s why wars, climate change and exploitation still happens because of this. Countries, especially bigger ones, could act with impunity. This is a fiefdom with each nations having their own oligarchs ruling and making poor people fight for each other.

The real root cause of migrant and local tension is because the current anarchic system. There is no actual order internationally contrary to the championjng of the term “international order”. Wars and climate change displace people because of lack of legal punishment against warmongerers and polluters. I understand you might say about changing culture and in relation to my proposal of a world government, but I have written an essay than I intended so that is another discussion for another day.