Rationalizations

Hilzoy blows his stack about the people promoting the voter fraud complaints in order to suppress minority voting:

There are some jobs that really make me wonder: how can the person who takes them look him- or herself in the face? Lobbying for Robert Mugabe, for instance, or being one of the scientists paid to come up with studies proving that cigarettes don't cause cancer. Spending your days trying to make voter fraud look like a serious problem* when it isn't one, by telling lies, all in order to convince people to pass restrictive voter ID laws because you think that the people who will be prevented from voting as a result are likely to favor your opposition is one of them.

What he doesn't understand about these people is that they truly believe they are saving America. They believe deep down that people who tend to be less educated and, presumably therefore less knowledgeable about current events should not be trusted with the vote because they will misuse it. That was the rationalization for literacy tests in years past, and it's still the rationalization for trying to cut these people out of the process. Of course, their real motives are far less attractive and are probably racist, but when you want to find a rationalization for doing something you know is wrong, it's easy to convince yourself you truly believe the rationalization you made up. These guys think they are as pure as their mother's milk.