Michael Recently, I was walking down 24th Street and was astonished to notice a protest booth displaying an image of Obama with a Hitler mustache. Allegedly, Obama's healthcare reform is bringing Hitler-like conditions to America. Under the freedom of speech that applies in the USA, anyone is allowed to say such things, and most people simply ignored the booth with a smirk.
On the Internet I found out that the campaign is funded by a right-wing nut named Lyndon LaRouche, who claims that in a state health system, there would inevitably be bureaucrats from the health insurance companies deciding who could receive which medical services and who could not. That, the LaRouche Political Action Committee" argues, be no different than the so-called Aktion T4 with which the Nazis exterminated so-called 'life unworthy of life' starting in 1940. Of course, this is a bold argument, because in any health insurance system, someone always decides over life and death, and the current healthcare system in the USA is no exception. But as I said, in a free society, everyone is allowed to talk nonsense, and I have nothing against that.
German politicians, by comparison, seem relatively sensitive and immediately call for the help of "Papa Prosecutor" if someone steps on their toes in an offensive manner. The ousted German President Wulff, for example, has filed a lawsuit against an unknown blogger because he made a biting comment on a photo showing Mrs. Wulff with her right arm raised. At that time, it was not yet known that Wulff, in a lordly manner, even tried to manipulate the tabloid press.