Was it OK for Rep. Schweikert to liken unions to Nazis?

Over the weekend I heard from a few Republican PR flacks who were upset with me for calling out Rep. David Schweikert after he equated American labor unions with Nazis.

I appreciate loyalists who stick with their guy.

But no apologies here.

An elected official from the state where I live, and where many hard-working union members live, and where the children and grandchildren of union members live, doesn't get a free pass on something like this.

The Nazis arrested union leaders and sent them to concentration camps. They seized labor union funds. Only Adolf Hitler-approved labor organizations were permitted to operate. A lot of hardworking American union members lost their lives in the war fought against the Nazis.

It's not OK to compare such people to one of Adolf Hitler's top cronies.

During what was a heated debate in the House floor last week over President Obama's Pacific Rim free trade deal, which is opposed by many unions, Rep. Schweikert said, "Some of the crazy things I'm seeing put out in the media by big labor, the willingness to make up stories, to make up facts -- Goebbels would be proud of them.

Joseph Goebbels was the Reich minister of propaganda in Nazi Germany.

An American politician should not go there.

The Republican PR flacks whined to me about Democrats who have played the Nazi card.

Anybody who compares hard-working people to Nazis is wrong. The difference here is that Schweikert represents the state where I live, and where the readers of The Arizona Republic and azcentral live.

Readers like Don Williams, who wrote in response to Schweikert's comment, "As Rep. Schweikert lives much of the year in Washington D. C. his thinking hopefully would change for the better of the district he serves if he were to visit the Holocaust Museum."

Unions have their problems. But without them where would working people be?

Because of unions there is a 40-hour work week. Because of unions there are workplace safety standards. Unions fought to get working people pensions, health benefits, paid holidays and vacations.

I come from a family of steelworkers. Both of my Italian immigrant grandfathers worked in the steel mills. My father did. My uncles. My cousins. My brother. Me. As did just about all of the adults in the town where I grew up. They were proud of their labor, skilled at their jobs and protected from workplace abuse by their union membership.

One reader defended Schweikert, saying, "I find absolutely nothing wrong with the statement. Goebbels mastered the art of propaganda and is an excellent example of what happens when it is used effectively."

I think we know better.

I hope we know better.

I hope that most of us are like reader Michael Conway, who quoted the famous anti-Nazi protestant minister Martin Niemöller, who said:

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.