Yet another decade passes and still I hesitate moving back
to my beloved southern Adirondacks. Why? I'm retired now so I certainly could
go. The problems lie in the overbearing control that the state government
exerts on its citizens. Your taxes are astronomical. Texas has no income tax.
Your gun laws are horrifying. I buy and keep as many guns as I want in Texas
including the dreaded AR-15. My Adirondacks will remain a distant memory and
Texas my adopted home.
My response:
In response to
Scott Graves from El Paso: I'd like to say that your love for the Adirondacks
must be very shallow if being required to pay a bit in taxes and follow some
restrictions on your guns keeps you from living here. If you're retired, it
doesn't even seem that your income tax bill would be that high. I know there
are people here who own guns and hunt. Don't believe they use AR-15s, though.
Unlike Texans, New Yorkers don't make a practice of going, en masse, into
restaurants bearing assault rifles. We don't have that level of insecurity.
Of course,
recently a lot of folks in Texas were convinced that they were going to be invaded
by the U.S. military. No, I don't get it either, but that's what they thought.
So, they may have anxiety problems that are only relieved by their guns. And
you know what; Governor Abbott, Senator Cruz and other Texas politicians did
nothing to dissuade their citizenry of that notion. The governor even sent out
the National Guard to keep an eye on the federal troops.
The same Texas
government fought the Affordable Care Act fervently while New York was working
with the federal government to implement it here. The difference shows now,
too. So, I'll take the "overbearing" government that works to ensure
its citizens have health insurance over the one that doesn't, and is willing to
allow its people to believe conspiracy theories. I'm retired, as well. I do
love New York and I'm willing to pay taxes in order to live in a sane and
civilized society.
Have I mentioned lately how much I hate wingnuts in my morning paper?
Amazing how these fear driven paranoids get so worked up. Even living in the gun world of America, the chances of having to use a gun for self defense, is minuscule. The chances one can actually use their gun in self defense if the occasion arises, is even more minuscule. Yet these paranoids can't even leave their house without a killing machine strapped to their bodies. I guess he's happy spending his retirement hiding in his bunker.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to Hometown, Tom. Admittedly, I'm not up on the intricacies of guns. I'm pretty sure that they can get just about anything in NY that they can get elsewhere. There are just a few more hoops to jump through. And thank God for that.
ReplyDeleteNY has 4.2 deaths per 100,000 vs 10.6 for TX. Maybe they're right to strap on a gun? Or could it just be a self-fulfilling prophecy? I like to play the odds.