Author Richard Cahill's Website--Living By Our Motto:"There Are No Stupid Questions, Just Stupid People Asking Questions Everybody else already knows the answer to."

A lot of talk in these politically polarized times turns around comparisons to the Nazi Party. Strident liberals have compared their Tea Party opponents to the leaders of the fascist Third Reich, and Tea Party members have responded in kind. In fact, there's nothing Tea Partiers like more than comparing people to Nazis. Glenn Beck, Tea Party icon, reflexively calls anybody he doesn't like a Nazi, and now rising Tea Party star Kim Simac has accused the entire American public school system of similarity to the Third Reich.

The Nazis under Hitler annexed Czechoslovakia, invaded Poland, signed a peace treaty with the Soviet Union and then abrogated it by invading that country, enforced a reign of terror over conquered nations such as Norway, Denmark, Belgium, and the Netherlands, put an estimated twelve million people to death in concentration camps, many by the use of poison gases, initiated the deliberate bombing of civilians in WWII and defeated France. These are just Nazi perfidities I can recall off the top of my head. Thousands more remain unremembered by me but certainly not by history.

Despite candidate Simac's apprehensions, it is tough to think of any public school district in this country, no matter how big and well-funded, matching that record, except for maybe defeating France. Even if we gave them a geographical pass and let them invade Canada instead of Poland, it's doubtful any public school could equal  Nazi accomplishments in the fields of slaughter and sadism, especially since the Nazis didn't take summers off.

Public school teachers in general don't seem to be imbued with the spirit of the Third Reich. They want to educate kids, thereby safeguarding the nation's future, and be paid at least as much as a car salesman or a journeyman electrician for doing it. That's hardly the blitzkrieg spirit and asking these souls to roll over a defenseless countryside and round up innocents for death camps would really be pushing at the boundaries of their skill sets.

So Simac may be guilty of a stretch here, but that's no reason tolerate libel by the arrogant liberals who have opined that any Nazi lucky enough to be reincarnated as a human being instead of an intestinal fluke would feel quite comfortable in the Tea Party. The difference between the Nazi and Tea Parties are numerous. As an impartial critic, I have undertaken to explain them below.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Tea Party, its membership is composed nearly entirely of right-wing white Christians who believe that they are naturally ordained to lead the nation by virtue of their being superior to other Americans.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Nazis, they were right-wing white Christians, who believed that they were naturally ordained to lead the world by virtue of their being superior to other human beings.

Reading the above, it's apparent I haven't made the difference between the two organizations starkly clear. Let me explain it in terms of historical outlook. The Tea Party wants to return America to an earlier epoch, in which an America ruled fully by Caucasians of one religious persuasion dominated North America. The Nazis wanted to return Germany to the days of the Holy Roman Empire, an era when Germans of a singular faith dominated Europe.

If that distinction is still too fine for you, let me elucidate further. The Nazis, although their views were espoused by a minority of Germans, came to power because they succeeded in painting their opponents as unpatriotic weaklings, but eventually they proved themselves willing to destroy Germany rather than abandon their radical beliefs. The Tea Party, although supported by a minority of Americans, looks down its nose at other Americans for being unpatriotic, but they have already proven themselves willing to destroy America's economy rather than abandon their radical agenda.

Still not getting it? Don't be obtuse. The Germans put the Nazis in power because they were persuaded that their national values were being desecrated by a non-German minority, the Jews. The Tea Party wins elections by claiming that our nation is being overrun by a non-American minority, the Mexicans. Not understanding this is like saying you don't know the difference between Jews and Mexicans. That would expose you as an ignoramus. Really, one of the few things Jews and Mexicans have in common is that they're both welcome to stay out of the Tea Party.

The Nazis were known for their mass rallies and slogan chanting. The Tea Party loves mass rallies and slogan chanting, but they also have Fox News.

The Tea Party hates the United Nations. It's because of the Nazis that we have the United Nations.

Most importantly, when the Nazis called somebody a Nazi, they regarded it as a compliment, but when the Tea Party calls somebody a Nazi, they mean it as an insult.

Clear enough?