Thanks to the Republican screamer for ultra-right conservatives, Rush Limbaugh, the lines of rhetoric, hatred, prejudice, character assignation, mob rule and the threat of violence are polarizing the political arena of free speech and common sense.

Last week, Limbaugh compared President Barack Obama with Adolf Hitler. Referring to the administration’s health care plan, he said it was a policy of Nazism. He went a step further and compared the Obama health care logo to the swastika, stirring up the ethnic pot of revolution. He said he agreed with commentaries accusing Obama of hating white people.

Rush should read the history of the swastika. It goes back thousands of years. It is a universal ethnic symbol of peace, mercy and eternal love embraced by Hindus and Buddhists. It is a traditional symbol of good will in China and Japan. The design is used in basket-weaving cultures, both past and present.

The swastika is also an American symbol. The Navajo Indians and many Hopi tribes used the symbol as a sacred image representing healing powers.

Unfortunately, Hitler used an inverted swastika to symbolize his message and terrorize the world with his anti-Christ, war, power and ethnic-cleansing philosophy.

Limbaugh is the water boy for the Republican-planned strategy of disrupting the ongoing town hall meetings on health care reform. He calls it free speech and the right to assemble. He claims it is a demonstration in opposition to what he calls socialized medicine, when in fact, the administration’s plan isn’t really about socialized medicine. Yet, it is a plan that will provide health coverage for all Americans.

One thing Limbaugh might be right about is that we don’t want a one-pay government health plan that will eliminate private insurers. Canada is a good example.

In 1984, Canada passed its health act, creating a single-payer, publicly financed health care program. To ensure a government monopoly, all provinces outlawed private health insurance. That decision was later overturned in 2005 by the Canadian Supreme Court.

The cost of health care in Canada is in the billions of dollars. Last year, the dispensing of prescription drugs totaled $22 billion. That is not including the pharmaceuticals used in hospitals.

You can imagine what our cost for drugs might be in such a plan. In 2006, the Canadian population was about 31 million compared to 304 million in the United States. Based on Canada’s cost, our prescriptions could be as high as a quarter of a trillion dollars annually under a government-run health care plan.

Economics isn’t the only reason to reject socialized medicine. The quality of health care in Canada has long been an issue. Waiting time for medical treatment ranges from 18 weeks in some provinces to 24 weeks in others. That is an increase of 97 percent over the last 14 years. Waiting time is characterized as the time from the initial visit to a primary care physician until treatment for the illness actually begins.

If you live in Canada and need an implant of a cardiac defibrillator, you’re really in trouble. Estimates are that 35,000 people have sudden cardiac arrests annually because the waiting time for a defibrillator implant is seven to eight weeks. Even in the Ontario province of Canada, the health care of 500,000 children are at risk due to shortages in community-based medical care.

Last year, more than 1,000 general surgery patients were canceled at one surgical facility. Other hospitals have poor sanitary conditions, are short on staff and lack essential equipment.

Because of this failure of socialized medicine in Canada , there is a move towards establishing personal insurance programs and privately owned health care facilities in Canada to compete with the government.

There is a difference between socialized medicine and a universal or national health plan. Obama says no American will be denied private insurance because of pre-existing conditions and every American will have some type of insurance. What he doesn’t say is how much it will cost. If you are a cancer patient, your private insurance premium could be more than $1,000 per month, forcing you to opt for a government insurance plan. You may not be denied private insurance; you just won’t be able to afford it.

Limbaugh should focus on an honest health care debate of facts rather than using mob rule to polarize his hate, prejudice and ignorance, turning town halls meetings into a pep rally for right-wing Republicans. If we can create a meaningful dialogue with legislators at town hall meetings without organized disruptions, maybe Limbaugh and the rest of us would find out just what Obama’s plan really is.