Leftist filmmaker Ken Burns on Wednesday trashed the idea of "individual freedom" during a time of crisis and praised the "central role" of the government during tough times.
During an appearance on NBC's "Today Show," Burns said he hoped the coronavirus crisis would bring about "fundamental change" and that "we don’t then just go back to the old ways."
After being asked by co-host Hoda Kotb where this particular crisis "will find itself in history," Burns replied, "It’s unprecedented, it will be up there with discussions of the Depression, of the Civil War, of obviously the Second World War....the kind of togetherness that was necessary to do that, the subsuming of 'what I want,' individual freedom, to the larger 'what we need,' the collective freedom that has always gotten us through tough times."
Kotb followed up by asking how this might change the American people going forward, and Burns said he hopes this pandemic will make Americans want bigger government: