I RECENTLY READ a book which theorizes why so many Americans vote against their own social and economic interests.

The premise of "What's the matter with Kansas?" by Thomas Frank is that values voters are lured to the polls to vote for Republicans by promises to stop abortion and gay marriage, roll back taxes, and above all, stop those leftist elites. This is often delivered with a sensibility they believe will appeal to middle America, he writes.

"Today's Republicans are doing what the Whigs did in the 1840s: putting on backwoods accents, telling the world about their log-cabin upbringings, and raging against the overeducated elites," Frank writes.

Does Sarah Palin's debate performance come to mind here?

Yet, he writes, every single time we wake up the next morning after election day and realize we didn't get what we asked for. "It's a French Revolution in reverse -- one in which the sans-culottes pour down the streets demanding more power for the aristocracy."

There are some truths within these pages. Four years ago after the election we were greeted by George Bush's plan to spend his new political capital by privatizing Social Security, much to the glee of Wall Street. Can you imagine right now where your money would be if it had all been invested in the stock market? Right down there with your 401K plan.

Religious leaders did indeed find themselves let down and that saddens me. Karl Rove, who courted the religious vote for Bush, was recently shredded in a book by conservative Christian author David Kuo. "National Christian leaders received hugs and smiles in person and then were dismissed behind their backs and described as 'ridiculous,' 'out of control' and just plain 'goofy,'" Kuo wrote. He was the number-two person in the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. His boss also quit and leveled similar charges.

INSTEAD, FRANK WRITES, the rich got richer. Estate taxes for the wealthy were repealed, big corporations received tax breaks, workplace safety programs were attacked, and labor unions -- who really represent middle America -- were demonized.

Author Christopher Lasch, no lover of liberal causes, once pointed out that "Reagan made himself the champion of 'traditional values' but there was no evidence he regarded their restoration as a high priority. What he really cared about was the revival of the unregulated capitalism of the '20s: the repeal of the New Deal."

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was grilled Thursday on Capitol Hill about that unregulated capitalism, which most experts agree significantly contributed to the economic meltdown. "I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms," Greenspan said.

I WRITE ALL THIS to preface a YouTube video which was made by our own Ventura City Councilman Carl Morehouse. I asked Morehouse right away if he'd read "What's the Matter with Kansas?" and indeed he had.

"I'm a fan of country music," Morehouse said. "but I have become extremely outraged at the bent some of the stations have taken with regard to political biases, particularly toward the 'right.' I'm also outraged that the Republicans in particular use language to manipulate the working man -- primarily blue collar -- and have them vote for emotional issues only to shaft them later with their pro-big business policies and simultaneous destruction of any social safety nets once the jobs are gone. So to that end, I decided to write my own country tune about that deception."

Carl's video can be viewed above.