For over a half-century, I've been living in New York State. I loved it. It had real problems, mostly government-related, but it was in general a great, if expensive, place to live.

Every year of that half-century, however, the government's nets on our freedom and finances has tightened a little bit more. Every single year. I've loved living here less. At this point, I can't afford to get the $60,000 of work we need to repair our century-old house, and I can't afford to move. I can't give my kids nice vacations because gas, taxes, and fees have become so expensive that I have to choose between my kids going to college and ever having a nice vacation. I live in constant fear of losing my kids over some stupid-ass nanny-state bullshit ("You gave them peanuts!?!?!? YOU MONSTER!"). Laws on everything from car emissions to guns to ALLOWED SPEECH have been locked down to the point that you can't go a day without running into a cop, a summons, a fee, a website that won't sell to you online, a thought which you must fear because you will go to jail or lose your business if you say them in public, or a penalty or some damn thing or other that costs multiple times as much as everyone else pays.

Today, I discovered that there are three problems with my car. They are somewhat superficial things, only one of which is even required to pass inspection. All three are cheap to fix, unless you live in New York. If you live in New York, they cost THREE TIMES as much as they would one state over, except for the one that is actually required for state inspection, which costs FIVE TIMES as much. I must now choose whether to junk my otherwise perfectly functional vehicle or pay almost 2.5 times it's "Blue Book" value to have it repaired.

I'm done. If I could afford to move, I'd be looking for real-estate somewhere else right now. But of course, I can't do that, because New York has put me in a position where my family is trapped and slowly being ground down by the sheer weight of government.

I HATE THIS FUCKING STATE. Fuck you right in the face, New York. I'm heartbroken and exhausted, and the hole's just getting deeper.

Weren't the progressives supposed to make things better, not worse?