To the Editor:

William Kristol may want to construe Barack Obama’s meaning as the words of a closet Marxist, but in reality, Mr. Obama was expressing what Thomas Frank explored in his book “What’s the Matter With Kansas?”

In the speech in question, Mr. Obama was describing small towns in Pennsylvania and in the Midwest where jobs have been lost for 25 years, yet residents vote against their own interests. In those towns, the frustrated workers repeatedly vote for the Republicans, who are less likely to protect their jobs and safety, while being more likely to benefit the workers’ corporate employers.

How do the Republicans do it? Through the use of conservative opinion makers who divert attention from bread-and-butter issues that really affect frustrated voters and instead focus on guns, gays and immigrant blaming, and whether a candidate was wearing a flag pin in his lapel.

Joel Peskoff
Baldwin, N.Y., April 14, 2008

Note from KBJ: The letter writer is befuddled by the “fact” that residents of small towns “vote against their own interests.” Could it be that their interests range beyond economics? Could it be that they are not to be reduced to Homo economicus? Could it be that they care about such things as the Second Amendment, the destruction of marriage, the fabric of American culture, the English language, education, the rule of law, and patriotism? How shallow and stupid does the letter writer think people are?

Note 2 from KBJ: In case you’re wondering, I had not read Kristol’s column before composing this post. I have only now read it, two days after it was published. I’m glad to see that Kristol noticed Barack Obama’s Marxism.