The recent draconian legislation in Arizona aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants has generated a firestorm of debate in the United States. While some criticism of the law  - most obviously that of President Barack Obama - has been measured, others out there have been all too keen to reach for the nearest outrageous analogy. China and the Soviet Union have been invoked by some American activists, whose rhetoric enabled the Cuban regime to take a break from locking up dissidents in order to gleefuly denounce a “racist and xenophobic” law.

Inevitably in this atmosphere, Nazi Germany has been held up as a comparison too. Earlier this afternoon, NPR gave me the opportunity to explain why this is such a grotesque use of history. The same point was forcefully made by Clarissa Martinez of the National Council of La Raza, who appeared alongside me, and who proved that principled opposition to the Arizona law is possible without sinking into the depths of the Nazi analogy. Do listen here; scroll down to the item in the right-hand menu entitled “Connection Between Arizona and Nazi Germany Fair?”