Republicans made big gains in Congress Tuesday—taking control of the House of Representatives and narrowing the margin in the Senate—just as the pollsters and prognosticators predicted.

Now it’s their turn … we wish them well as they attempt to forge an agenda that will actually help the nation recover from its overlong economic slump.

Never mind the cause of the slump or the debate about on whose watch it happened. Never mind that the parties remain bitterly divided over the best ways to move on. The Republicans have regained a large part of control over national affairs. Can they break the D.C. gridlock?

We have a couple of questions that arose as the campaign went on. The GOP campaign phrase: "Take our country back" and its variant "take Congress back" … from what? to what? This never seemed clearly defined.

The Tea Party movement has much cause for pride. It riveted the attention of many voters and got their support. The...