In the highly partisan American political scene, disagreements run deep.

The divisions are so deep, in fact, that increasingly they exceed political bounds and take on a moral character. It gets to the point that if you disagree with me, not only are you wrong, but you are also bad, and the policies that you support may be denounced in the most extreme terms.

President Barack Obama and the policies he advocates have been labeled by some conservatives as being as bad as Nazi Germany, probably the low point in modern world history. In the ultimate absurdity, some say, “Obama is literally Hitler.”

Last week, Maine Gov. Paul LePage said the IRS is the “new Gestapo.” The Gestapo was the Nazi secret police that broke into peoples’ homes, seized the residents and executed them simply because they were political opponents, Jewish, or labor union leaders.

The Gestapo did not bother with any legal process. Its members simply shot you.

The IRS administers the tax laws, which have been adopted by a majority vote in Congress and signed by the President. In a democratic republic, that is how government works.

If people don’t like the laws, they can try to change them by voting in regularly scheduled elections for candidates who share their views. In Nazi Germany, during the entire period of Hitler’s regime, there was not one single national election.

LePage and others who think like him may either be ignorant of this history or believe that the Affordable Care Act penalty provision is as terrifying as the Gestapo crashing through your door in the middle of the night.

It is also possible that neither is true, and they are simply demagogues. A demagogue makes over-the-top statements just to stir up people to mob action. Adolph Hitler was a demagogue.

What LePage doesn’t like is the ability of the federal government to require you either to purchase health insurance or pay a tax penalty for failing to do so. In his view, that is too much power for the federal government.

Fair enough. That can be debated civilly. But those who oppose that method of expanding health care protection to cover almost everybody ought to explain what they would do.

If the answer is leaving health insurance to the private sector, that’s just what we have had, and it obviously did not work. Tens of millions have been left to rely on emergency rooms, with the high cost of their care being picked up by those who have insurance.

At the heart of this political debate is the question of the role of the federal government. In some ways, this is a legal debate, because the powers of the federal government are defined in the Constitution.

This is not a new debate in this country, and it is likely to continue indefinitely. What is the proper balance between the federal and state roles in education, immigration, or energy? Still unresolved.

The Supreme Court said that the Constitution allows the health care law that LePage dislikes. But that may not be the end of the question. Congress and the president can always change the law.

LePage and other Republican governors say that they will not help implement the health care law until after they see the results of this November’s election. Obviously, they hope for a Republican sweep that could lead to repealing the law.

That is why it is worth asking each candidate for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives how he or she would vote on the health care law if elected: Keep it or kill it?

Opposing the law is completely acceptable politics, but so is favoring it. Supporting the law does not make a person a Nazi.

Is the Affordable Care Act beyond change or improvement? Of course not.

It could be simplified and made less costly. It could be better regulated. It could have fewer state requirements, if Congress would agree on other ways to reach low-income people lacking coverage.

There are two disturbing aspects of extravagant remarks like LePage’s that forced apologies cannot fix. First, some people who have only a sketchy idea of Nazism might think what he said is true. They might not understand how extreme his charge was, or they might believe that the IRS can truly act as the Nazis did.

Second, such remarks from responsible political leaders can destroy the fabric of our system of government. Disagreement is essential to our system, but extreme and unwarranted vilification of one’s opponents makes it impossible for Americans to work together to deal with the challenges and opportunities we all share.

— Gordon L. Weil is an author, publisher, consultant and former official of international organizations and the U.S. and Maine governments.