New York City used to be the place to be in America. It’s where culture and commerce reached higher-highs (at least in the view of elites that care about such things as modern art and finance/investing), where all those with massive fortunes or a high degree of fame went, and where things happened.
Even if it was known for being a somewhat dirty city full of rude people, it’s where tens of millions of Americans dreamed about, the place where Broadway shows, hedge fund titans, and monumental architecture combined to create a place of greatness, even if that greatness wasn’t all that appealing to people who like nature, fresh air, and not being surrounded by millions of people.
Problem is, New York’s insane politicians might have destroyed that for good, as Americans have been more than a bit turned off by sky-high crime rates, soft on crime policies that empower those criminals, and lockdowns so harsh that they would make tyrants of even the Stalin mold blush, not to mention taxes and wasteful spending so high that the New York political class makes Caligula look thrifty.
And so New York is turning into something of a joke and backwater, looking like a grimy city full of criminals that might never really recover and reach the dizzying heights of its days of glory. Heck, even Trump, the consumate New Yorker, left the hellhole.
And where did he leave for? Florida, the place tens of thousands of disaffected New Yorkers are fleeing to. In fact, by spring of 2021, there were an estimated 30,000 driver’s licenses transferred from the Big Apple to the Sunshine State, and the numbers keep rising.
That has New Yorkers enraged: they’re used to being the center of the US, if not the world, but now their city is being mocked as Florida rises in prominence, becoming the nexus of the US.
New Yorkers can’t stand that Florida is the new nexus of the US https://t.co/vny3YcAh4t via @nypost
— Jay Weber (@JayWeber3) June 20, 2022
The trash pushed by MSM outlets shows that anger at its most virulent, with bitter New Yorkers writing anything they can to try to drag DeSantis’ Florida down.
Last year, for example, leftist columnist for the New York Times, Paul Krugman, referred to Florida as “one of America’s leading laboratories of democratic erosion.” Similarly, in Bloomberg last year, a Wall Street banker named Jason Mudrick said that the “problem with moving to Florida is that you have to live in Florida.” And in the New York Post just a few weeks ago, one of their columnists, Steve Cuozzo told New Yorkers who moved to the Sunshine State: “You’ll all be sorry. Florida sucks, and you’ll all be back in five years.”
Steve Cuozzo says Florida sucks, and New Yorkers who moved there will all be back in five years https://t.co/5JIc3vwGCl
— Daily US Feed (@UsDailyFeed1) June 2, 2022
That’s doubtful, to say the least. As Vanessa from For the Love of News described the outlook of New Yorkers like her that fled to the freedom provided by the sunshine state:
But will we though? I myself fled to the sunshine state with my family because we saw the writing on the wall. Five years later, New York seems like a distant nightmare, I am sorry to say. But many people still hold on to this bizarre love affair they have with New York. They know that it will never return to the New York of our childhood, yet they hold on to sad little fragments of yesteryear, like that one, good pizzeria that is left amongst the ruins of what was once an awesome place to live, or that one good bar that everyone clings to a few times a year. But that is it. There is nothing left there to hold on to. Many escapees would agree, that the best decision was getting out when the getting was affordable, and the best thing about Florida is that IT IS Florida. That’s why, between 2010 and 2020, a net 280,000 New Yorkers moved to Florida — the largest exchange between any two states in the country. And that number seems to increase by the day.
Any given afternoon here in Southeast Florida, you can count at least 5-10 moving trucks hauling cars with New York plates. But why? If New York is still so great, why do they keep coming in droves?
The answer is FREEDOM and protection under the US Constitution. Down here, we are allowed to exercise our 1st and 2nd Amendment rights freely. The Cato Institute, in its most recent report, ranked Florida second (after Texas) out of all 50 states in “personal and economic freedoms.” Since 2014, Florida has never moved out of the top two. Since 2000, New York ranked 50th place every single year. I also find immense joy in watching progressives have a meltdown every time Ron DeSantis signs a bill into law. It is pure gold, and so is DeSantis.
Perhaps the pandemic narratives, the lockdowns, the burning down of businesses, and the bail reform measures put into law by former Governor Andrew Cuomo, all played a part in the mass exodus from New York from folks who simply had enough and wanted to carve a happier life for themselves and their families. There is no doubt in my mind, that they found just that down here in Florida. I use to feel guilty because I didn’t miss anything at all about the place I called home for many years. I no longer feel guilty about leaving it behind or those who chose to stay. I feel relief and pure joy. We stay in Florida because it IS…Florida.
In other words, Florida is becoming the center of things, particularly in this American moment. It’s where freedom lives and thrives, is a model for stable, effective governance, and is where people are fleeing to. Despite the hot and humid climate, the alligators, and the “Florida man” stories, it’s where people want to be. Not the hellhole that is New York, where taxes are almost as high as crime rates and the only positive is that at least there isn’t as much human waste on the streets as in California.
Try as leftists might to reclaim their position of prominence, that’s gone and Florida has claimed the trophy.
#PalmCity ranked one of the happiest place in Florida! Great place to live. Call me to make Palm City your new home. https://t.co/CPZIaE021b
— Sonja Warren (@SonjaWarrenKW) March 31, 2016
By: Gen Z Conservative, editor of GenZConservative.com. Follow me on Facebook and Subscribe to My Email List
