Election 2012 brought a decisive victory for Democrats in Illinois. With a supermajority in the state Senate and House supplementing the Democratic governor, there is little doubt that the next few years will be marked by distinctly Democratic policy.

Besides its obvious impact on Republicans, Democrats won five out of the six contended congressional seats and now outnumber Republicans 71-47 in the House and 40-19 in the Senate. This reveals just how powerful a role redistricting played last Tuesday.

In 2010, a Democrat-controlled governor’s office and Legislature redrew political boundaries that significantly limited competition for Democratic candidates in many districts. As a result, the sweeping seat gains will enable the Democratic congress to override Gov. Pat Quinn’s veto power.

House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton are now arguably the real muscle behind the Illinois political machine. With less Republican resistance, Democrats will likely be able to push policies more quickly and easily through the legislative process. This may prove to be beneficial for a state that urgently needs reform in its spending.

Without Republican opposition, the blame for any legislation that doesn’t get pushed through or any that fails will rest with the Democrats.

Yet without opposition, one of the key mechanisms to moderate and balance the state’s political policy has taken a major hit. Now, the responsibility lies even more heavily on the people to hold their representatives accountable for passing legislation and creating programs that meet their needs.

Democratic leaders need to take extra precaution to strike a balance between tax hikes and spending cuts. Shortly after the 2010 elections, unpopular tax hikes passed, which increased the income tax by 67 percent and corporate tax by 46 percent. That gives Illinois the fourth-highest corporate tax rate in the nation.

These taxes are certainly intended to drag the state of Illinois out of its economic crisis, but the government has a responsibility to also observe frugality and achieve balance.

Especially in a presidential election year, it’s easy for the local elections to be drowned out by all of the press and publicity swirling around a competitive race to the White House — yet some of the most significant legislation to our everyday lives comes from our state Legislature.

We often look to the Oval Office and Capitol Hill for reform, but voters and citizens must remain vigilant to what is happening on the state level.

There needs to be a collective consciousness of Illinois’ political process given the current fragility of the Illinois economy, and state residents must hold their leaders — Democrats and Republicans alike — accountable to their promise to move forward.