It’s well-established that conservatives absolutely love making frivolous comparisons between anything Nazi/Holocaust/Hitler-related and stuff they don’t like.
They especially like doing it with Obamacare, which, considering the hyperbole they’ve placed around the ACA, it seems the healthcare reform law has become the new precedent of all things crummy in Republican-land. The Third Reich has been the go-to comparison for illustrating just “how bad” Obamacare is, but they have actually used many other historical tragedies to bolster their over-the-top hatred of the law.
Slate gives us a nice little rundown of all things Obamacare-conservative hyperbole. Turns out that Obamacare has been compared to a myriad of terrible things. Ted Cruz said that Obamacare is worse than war during the 21-hour filibuster that wasn’t really a filibuster. Rand Paul compared Obamacare to the Supreme Court’s Dred Scott decision, and New Hampshire state representative Bill O’Brien compared the law to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
In case you forgot, the Fugitive Slave Act allowed the arrest of anyone thought to be a fugitive slave and called for the punishment of anyone who aided a fugitive slave.
These are just a few of Republicans’ favorite things when it comes to Obamacare comparison hyperbole. “Obamacare will hurt people like the Holocaust.” “It will turn people into slaves!” “I was cut off in traffic because of Obamacare!” “Obamacare took my lunch money as a kid!”
The majority of the arguments the conservatives have posed against Obamacare have been debunked or were seriously weak to begin with. So, their homebase tactic is to just complain about it and compare it to things that were actually bad.
Josh is a writer and researcher with Ring of Fire. Follow him on Twitter @dnJdeli.
