The point is that ANY country can behave like Nazi Germany. We are not some especially-blessed people that are immune. We are no different than any other people on earth. All the good, and bad, things they are capable of, we are capable of. It just takes the right circumstances to bring it about. American exceptionalism is not because of her people. It's because of the political system the founding fathers set up. If they had set it up in a different country, with different people, the result would have been the same...assuming the same natural resources to go with it. The idea of paying attention to history is the hope we can prevent a repetition.
Jim