Yesterday was Election Day in America, and people from all over the country went to the polls to vote for, or against, candidates of their choice. My wife and I went, and had to learn a new way to vote, as they've gone away from machines to paper ballots here; this is progress?

I vote because a lot of people were willing to give up their lives so that I could have the right to vote. That's how I honor those people who were able to help force the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and I'll never be able to thank those people in any other way for the right than to exert that right.

However, there weren't many people who went out to vote last night. There were some hot spots, such as the states that had governor's races, but for the most part, the numbers were way down. But there were 4 big races in particular to briefly talk about.

In both New Jersey and Virginia, Republicans were elected as governor. In Florida, a Republican governor was reelected, although some members of his party were trying to get rid of him because he willingly accepted stimulus money to help bail out his beleaguered state. Here in New York, the seat for congressman was won by a Democrat, as it became a national focal point that said it was all about how the people felt about President Obama and his policies.

This was close to my district, which means we had to see a lot of these ugly commercials. It was actually 3 people running, but the Republicans had turned on their own candidate for not being "conservative enough," and were supporting the third party candidate. She was so hurt that she dropped out in the last weekend and supported her democratic opponent instead. This drew one of the worst, hateful lines anyone could ever say about someone else, from none other than Boss Limbaugh: "We can say that she's guilty of widespread bestiality."

What the heck was that? Why the big national interest in an area that, when all the votes are counted, will barely have broken 100,000 votes? And, by the way, what kind of referendum was this for or against President Obama, a northern New York district that, in the end, has just elected its first Democratic representative in 23 years?

That's really the issue here. Things aren't always what they seem, and neither were these elections. The incumbent governor in New Jersey had issues that were going to be hard to overcome, such as a drunk driving citation and some issues of corruption in his cabinet. Virginia's economy has been in a tailspin for awhile, way before candidate Obama even began his campaign. And, the sitting governor of Florida won big, even after taking administration money; where's the indictment there?

It's like working at a job. When someone people complain, the reason they give you isn't always the real reason for something. When someone says "so and so gets away with murder" or something like that, their complaint isn't necessarily about the other person as much as it is that maybe they're not getting enough credit for the job they feel they're doing. It's why almost every study of employee satisfaction that's ever been conducted rarely has money at the top of the list, and often has it showing up somewhere in the middle of the list. That's proof that one can't just throw money at a situation and expect everyone to be happy.

In any case, I'm just so glad these elections are over. I hate this season every year; I wonder how long it'll take for people to pull all those signs up and throw them away.