What can we take away from 11/2?

I think it's important, no matter what your political leanings, to think about what has happened this election cycle. I'll go first:

This voting cycle marks a huge swing from two years ago, where Democrats did so well. What happened? You can blame the economy, but I think it goes deeper than that. Democrats simply didn't live up to their expectations. They passed a very unpopular auto bailout (which will most likely remain unprofitable), they failed to properly police banks, but most importantly, they failed on the little things. All of the young people wanted to see drug reform, immigration reform, and net neutrality laws. None of this happened. Yes, there was a health care bill which was successful, but it was not enough to hold the minds of the young voters.

However, this election was not, I think, an embrace of Republican ideals. I expect that in two years, Republicans will yet again be voted out, though not in the droves we saw two years ago. The reason is that most of them believe that they're home-free, that people want their same-old same-old politics. When Congress yet again is grid-locked, when the President can't pass anything for the next two years, when the failed tax increases increase the debt even more, the Republicans will have to take some of the blame.

Hopefully next time, the Democrats can actually hold strong to an ideal. Or, hopefully this time around the Republicans will actually vote on their ideals, being small government and balanced budget.

Anybody else have any insight?