A brief glance into the annals of American history provides many instances of the richness and generosity of the American soul, from frightened young men crawling up blood soaked beaches on Omaha, to men and women, not born when the Afghan war started, giving their lives to vet Afghan allies wanting to escape to the US. In the 19th century we saw ourselves as a people willing to fight and die in a great civil war to defend the idea of freedom. Historians describe such acts as our better angels. We have a darker side including lynchings, Mai Lai, untrammeled greed, the horrors of slavery, the Klu Klux Klan, Wounded Knee. Populist rhetoric exploits these darker angels when they rise to the surface. Now that the dust is settling on the audit in Arizona, let's see it for what it was, a defense of white privilege, an attempt to roll back a democratic system which at its roots maintains that all men and women are equal and endowed with unalienable rights. Once again the ideals of America have been tested. Good men and women stood firm. The better angels won this round. Democracy wobbled but stood firm.