The Civil War threatened to create two nations out of one, fought over the question as to whether “owning” another person was acceptable human behavior.

The Great Depression led to fear of death, and death, and fear of starving to death, homelessness, kids with nothing, the worst depression since the Dark Ages. It’s worth noting that the Dark Ages happened to last 300 years, there were likely occasions when people wondered whether the Great Depression would last just as long, there was no rule that said it couldn’t.

World War II, the world’s most broadly fought war, ended with the first use of an atomic bomb, fought against the idea that fascism was the natural and inevitable government under which humans could live.

One could add reconstruction as an utter disaster, American apartheid in the Civil Rights movement, perhaps a few others.

Ken Burns isn’t the world’s foremost authority in American history, it would be a challenge to name such a person. He is a person that has spent far more time than most studying American history. Ken Burns says this point in time in this country “equals” the threat of any listed above, it’s that serious:

Burns made the remark while on the “SmartLess” podcast, hosted by Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes, comparing current events with the Civil War, the Depression, and World War II.

“It’s really serious. There are three great crises before this: the Civil War, the Depression, and World War II. This is equal to it,” he said on Monday’s episode when asked about the direction the United States was headed.

All of us on the left recognize the moment as damned serious. It is pretty sobering to hear it is “just as” dangerous as those periods in American history. We best start addressing it as such, all of us.

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