> So actually the OP's comparison seems fair. "The US may be bad these days, but at least it's not (yet) as bad as some of the worst in history!"
Pondering how bad things could get is not going to make things better.
Surely the comparison should be "It's not as good as it used to be, let's make it better!"
So actually the OP's comparison seems fair. "The US may be bad these days, but at least it's not (yet) as bad as some of the worst in history!"