Honouring the Working-Class Man and Woman: The Backbone of Society! By Bob Farmer, Dairy Farmer

In an era where urban elites and the modern Left often sneer at the calloused hands and weathered faces of labouring men and women, it's time to celebrate the working class, the true engine of civilisation. These are the builders, the makers, the farmers, the doers: the men and women who rise before dawn to lay bricks, drive trucks, clean homes, harvest crops and like me, milk cows. While the new urbanist Left, cloaked in intellectualism and cultural clout, dismisses us as relics of a bygone age, the working class remains the unshakable foundation of our world. Our resilience, grit, and unpretentious values deserve not derision but deep respect.

The modern Left, increasingly a movement of affluent urbanites, has drifted far from its roots as a champion of workers. Once grounded in union halls and factory floors, it now thrives in corporate boardrooms, academia, and social media echo chambers. This "new class" of cultural gatekeepers, think tech moguls, tenured professors, and influencers, wields power through narrative control, prioritising identity politics and abstract ideologies over the tangible struggles of the working class. They mock the lorry driver's accent, caricature the construction worker as backward, and sideline the cleaner as invisible, all while preaching inclusivity. As sociologist John Russo noted in a 2023 study, the Left's shift toward urban cosmopolitanism has alienated blue-collar workers, with 62% of U.S. labourers feeling politically unrepresented. The working class isn't just ignored, they're derided as obstacles to a sleek, globalised future.

Yet, who keeps that future running? The working-class man and woman. The electrician who restores power after a storm, the nurse who works double shifts in understaffed hospitals, the farmer who feeds cities despite razor-thin margins, these are the unsung heroes. Their labour isn't glamorous, but it's essential. In 2024, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 60% of jobs deemed "critical infrastructure" are held by working-class individuals, from plumbers to warehouse workers. When supply chains faltered during COVID-19, it was truckers and dockworkers, not think-tank pundits, who kept shelves stocked. When urban elites fled to Zoom meetings, cleaners risked exposure to sanitise offices. The working class doesn't just toil; they sustain.

Their values, hard work, family, community, anchor society in ways the urban Left often overlooks. Take the example of a steelworker, up at 5 a.m. to provide for his kids, or a single mother cleaning hotels to pay rent. These aren't abstract "proletariat" archetypes; they're real people with quiet dignity, forging lives through perseverance. A 2022 UK survey by YouGov found that 78% of working-class respondents prioritised family and local community over political activism, contrasting sharply with urban progressives' focus on global causes. This isn't backwardness, it's a grounded moral compass, forged in the reality of making ends meet.

The Left's disdain manifests in cultural tropes and policy priorities. Hollywood portrays workers as bumbling or bigoted, while urbanist policies, like green regulations that spike fuel costs, hit truckers and farmers hardest without offering alternatives. In 2025, the EU's carbon tariffs raised diesel prices by 15%, squeezing independent drivers, while urban elites championed the rules from air-conditioned offices. Meanwhile, the Left's obsession with multiculturalism and identity politics often sidelines class issues. When a 2024 X post by a prominent activist dismissed miners as "climate deniers," it ignored their economic realities, coal towns face job losses without viable retraining programs. The working class isn't resisting progress; they're asking to be included in it.

Contrast this with the working class's contributions, which transcend ideology. The carpenter doesn't check your politics before building your house; the mechanic doesn't care about your pronouns when fixing your car. Their work ethic is universal, their pride rooted in tangible results. In rural New Zealand, farmers banded together in 2023 to rebuild flood-damaged roads when government aid lagged, showing community spirit that shames urbanist cynicism. In the U.S., volunteer firefighters, often working-class, saved countless homes during 2024's wildfires. These acts of quiet heroism don't trend on X, but they hold society together.

Celebrating the working class means rejecting the Left's urbanist hierarchy, which elevates abstract theory over lived experience. It means valuing the welder's skill as much as the professor's lecture, the cleaner's diligence as much as the CEO's strategy. It means recognising that the West's greatness, its infrastructure, its food security, its resilience, rests on the shoulders of labouring men and women. As Douglas Rushkoff argued in Survival of the Richest, true survival is a "team sport," and the working class embodies that cooperative spirit, unlike elites who hoard resources in bunkers.

To honour them, we must amplify their voices. Policies should prioritise job security, affordable housing, and training programs that respect their realities, not urbanist fantasies of a gig-economy utopia. Culturally, we need stories that celebrate the dignity of labour, not mock it. The working-class man and woman aren't just cogs in a machine; they're the heart of our world. They build, they nurture, they endure.

https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/in-praise-of-laboring-men-and-women