> The difference is that the ruling class no longer see themselves as members of the country the rule, they consider themselves *global citizens*

That's what happens every time an empire is allowed to form. The rulers stop seeing themselves as members of their nation and start identifying primarily with other rulers as their social group.

Once that happens it's inevitable they'll stop seeing the needs of their people as their purpose and start seeing them as an inconvenience holding them back from greatness or a threat to their power. It happened in Rome, Gaul, Byzantium, France, Britain, you name it.

There definitely are brown envelopes in circulation but the amount of money is surprisingly small. I'm not a rich man by any means but even I could afford to buy a senator.

Their real currency is status. Conferences like Bildeberg and Davos have become a measure of personal importance as well as giving it's attendees a sense of purpose. They ensure that a politician's primary social group aren't his local community, they're a group of globalist functionaries they meet once a year in Switzerland. And their standing in that group depends on how successful they've been in steering their regional franchise towards globalist policy goals.

Popular rebellion against globalism is a source of embarrassment and failure. Compliance is a source of pride. Hence why they crack down so hard on genuine anti-establishment activity. They see it as a bunch of idiot neanderthals dragging them back into the stone age.