A recent poll of Afghans about the causes of their nation’s conflict revealed some answers that might surprise some Americans:

"70% see unemployment and poverty as a key driver of civil war; 48% blame the government’s weakness and corruption; 36% point to the Taliban; 25% to interference by neighboring countries; 18% to the presence of international forces; 18% to al Qaeda; and  17% to the lack of support from the international community."

Which raises the fundamental question:  Is the solution found in escalating military action, or in rebuilding the devastated economy?

What’s on you mind tonight?

8:09 EST: Dodd, presiding over the Senate, said the motion passed, smattering of applause. Motion is agreed to. Clerk is now reporting the bill and amendment.

And that’s it for the night. Debate will begin after Thanksgiving, plus amendments, then moving on to the final cloture motion and a final vote.

8:04 EST: Cloture passes 60-39. Debate will start after Thanksgiving.

7:57 EST: Voting continuing.

7:56 EST: Clerk reading cloture motion.

The question is: Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the motion to proceed shall be brought to a close. Clerk is calling the roll.

Voting now.

It’s ironic to see right wingers like Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck, and their followers thrive on a culture of victimhood.  After all, as I have noted in the past, the right wing spent years deriding liberals for supposedly building a culture of victimhood.  This was a convenient way for rightwingers to dismiss legitimate complaints African-Americans, women and others had about inequality and discrimination.

Over the years, right wingers ended up claiming victimhood as their own calling card and making it into a rallying cry.  Whether it is Bill O’Reilly wailing about the secular progressive agenda to get religion out of the public square, Charles Krauthammer fantasizing about a liberal media that ruthlessly persecutes right wing pundits (even as they continue to freely spout their opinions from all corners of the media),  Sen. Jim DeMint accusing President Obama of hostility to Christians, or a kooky anti-government group (praised by Pat Buchanan) that thinks the government is about to confiscate their guns and impose martial law, it’s hard to find a right winger who doesn’t see himself or herself as a victim.   Rush Limbaugh’s brother David wrote a book with a title that sums it all up: "Persecution"–it’s the untold story of how Christians are mistreated in American life.

The right wing has a persecution complex.    One is tempted to simply tell them, as they would have said to the liberal whiners they derided for years: "get over it."  The fantasies of an America where Christian white males are oppressed are outlandish, for reasons that are obvious, and that I have gone over in some detail before.  However, as has become all too apparent, baseless assertions can still have a great deal of power in current American politics.