NYT post-Election Day editorial makes me feel good about the moderation that is hard-wired into the democratic system:

These policies, and similar ones in other states, were passed in an arrogant frenzy by a Tea Party-tide of Republicans elected in 2010. Many of them decided that they had a mandate to dismantle some of the basic protections and restrictions of government. They went too far, and weary voters had to drag them back toward the center.

We may still be a hamster in the coils of a hungry corporate oligarchy, but moments like this are good ones.