As a serious student of history, yes, I occasionally have taken notice of such trends. However, we are not most countries and never have been. You lose credibility when you equate Mugabe's henchmen with Union soldiers.
There's a reason for that. It didn't happen by mistake, or because the American people are somehow inherently different from the rest of humanity. The difference between our nation and others is our tradition of liberty. It is only our conscious effort to jealously guard freedom that is responsible for the difference between us and them.
Decisions have consequences. Other countries have decided to use military as law enforcement. They are known as banana republics. We have gone the other way, and are known as a free country. We aren't somehow magically special that we can behave like other police states and not become one. We're human just like everyone else. When we make the same decisions oppressive countries have made, we will get the same results they got. Cause and effect.