STANFORD, Calif. — November's midterm elections were a sharp rebuke to the vast expansion of government spending, deficits and debt in the United States. Elected in the midst of the financial crisis in the fall of 2008, President Barack Obama and the Democratic leadership of Congress seemed surprised when the public rejected their stimulus, health care reform and energy policies.

Of course, some of the huge increase in expenditure and debt has been the result of the recession, and of the defense and other spending legacies of President George W. Bush. But instead of finding security and salvation from recession in a new era of dependence on government, most voters were repelled by such policies' apparent failure to do much to improve the economy.

Thus the election results should not be viewed primarily as an endorsement of the Republicans, but as a rebuke to the Democrats' agenda, which voters believed was out of touch with their concerns, interests and values.