Alex Angelillo grew up in Central New York. After completing his service in the Navy, he now lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

By Alex Angelillo | Special to Syracuse.com

I am overlooking a still pond outside of Cortland, having morning coffee with my parents. It’s where I came to love this awesome natural world we share, catching perch, building camp fires and chasing turkeys around the woods. It’s my favorite place in the world. But in a few hours, I’ll be on a plane heading to my new home in Nashville, where my young family has planted our roots. Being so far away from my hometown and from family is hard, but it has become necessary. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has made it so. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has stifled those that would bring jobs and economic opportunity through regulation and crony capitalism. The Wall Street Journal recently ranked the economies of the largest U.S. metro areas, and the worst two were those of Buffalo and Rochester. I can only imagine where Syracuse would be if it were large enough and hadn’t been shrinking for decades. It’s no surprise to those who live Upstate that New York now infamously leads the nation in its loss of residents. We’ve been buoyed by New York City, which still commands significant attention as a global financial capital. But given the recent calamity with Amazon, the days are clearly numbered when even the city can squeeze its job creators without repercussion.

He has failed to reduce bloated state budgets and fund future entitlements of public employees. Unfunded retiree health benefits threaten New York with insolvency, topping $91 billion at just the state level. Those benefits presumably will be paid, but with a tax burden already the nation’s highest and the millionaires fleeing to Florida, how much taxation should the middle class endure just to live here? Congress’ capping of the SALT deduction was painful for residents, who suffer inordinate property and income taxes. But rather than taking a hard look at spending, he blew out the 2019 budget, gave legislators’ a $50,000 raise, and proposed two solutions for getting around SALT: coerce residents to contribute to state “charities,” or increase payroll taxes. He doesn’t get it.

He has ignored the best solutions for reducing carbon emissions by capitulating to environmental special interests. His disregard for nuclear power is particularly troubling. His “ticking time bomb” at Indian Point cranks out a quarter of New York City’s power needs and emits zero carbon dioxide from its reactor plants. Good luck replacing it with wind turbines. Meanwhile, his campaign against natural gas pipelines has hurt residents by limiting availability of the cheap and efficient heating source, and has prolonged consumption of coal and oil. Consider also the billions of dollars of household income and state revenues forgone under his authoritarian fracking moratorium. In 2014, he insisted the residents of the Southern Tier were on his side, that they would tell him “I have no alternatives but fracking.” They still don’t.

He has trampled on the Second Amendment. Perhaps his most dastardly move was the NY SAFE Act’s restriction to seven-round magazines, a bait-and-switch that will save zero lives. We know what was his aim: disarm law-abiding citizens, then drive up prices by artificially restricting supply. What remains will be a state where only the wealthy have both the time to work through red tape, and the means to purchase expensive “NY-compliant” firearms and equipment. Over time, responsible gun ownership will become such a rarity that the people will accept whatever ridiculous law he should sign.

Therefore, I cannot justify moving back to the state I love. I wish that my best advice would be to stay and fight. But to Upstate New Yorkers who share my concerns, consider moving where you may keep more of your hard-earned money for the benefit of your family, participate in the nation’s economic boom, and enjoy other acts and things which independent people may of right do. Here’s a tip: start your search with Florida, Tennessee, or Texas.