I love New York State. Our diverse natural resources offer opportunities with which not many other states can compete. We have the beautiful mountains of the Adirondacks and Catskills. We have access to the Atlantic Ocean, Niagara Falls, two Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River, and the beautiful Finger Lakes. We have the rolling hills of the Southern Tier, the scenic views of the Hudson River, and the beaches of Long Island.

Mixed with our natural resources, we have New York City, which one could argue is the premier metropolitan area of the world along with the smaller cities of Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, and Albany that offer the same cultural and entertainment opportunities as bigger cities but in a more manageable setting. We have high-performing schools, an infrastructure that, for the most part, allows ease of travel throughout the state and a multitude of recreational and cultural activities regardless of the season. So against this backdrop, why is New York state losing population. With all that the state has to offer, one might think we would be attracting people. Sadly, that is not the case.

In 2018, New York state was the number one state in the country in outward migration and unfortunately, 2018 was not an outlier. From 2010 to 2017, New York also led the nation in outward migration, followed by Illinois, California, New Jersey, and Michigan. Some have argued, including Gov. Cuomo, that our state’s outward migration is due to the weather. Certainly, some people have left our state for warmer climates but can weather alone explain why nearly 1 million people have left New York state since 2010? Probably not. If climate alone was the cause, California would not be one of the nation’s top outward migration states and New Hampshire, with a similar climate as New York, would not be an inward migration state.

Likely there are other factors at stake. The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) conducted a study comparing economic policies of the 10 states with the highest outward migration versus the economic policies of the 10 states with the highest inward migration. Not surprisingly, states with high outward migration were states that lead the nation in high taxes, an unfriendly business climate, and weak economic health. States with high inward migration (Florida, Texas, and Arizona, for example), are states with lower taxes, that are more friendly to business, and are economically strong.

The AEI study used a state’s business-tax climate ranking as one comparison measure. A state’s business-tax climate index is based on each state’s corporate-income taxes, individual-income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, and unemployment-insurance taxes. In this comparison, five of the top 10 outbound states (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Louisiana, and California) were among the seven states with the worst business-tax climate. Specifically, New York, California, and New Jersey ranked as the three worst states in terms of business-tax climate. In contrast, for the top 10 inbound states, five of those states (Nevada, Oregon, New Hampshire, Montana, and Florida) ranked among the top nine U.S. states for business-tax climate.

Clearly, regardless of the many wonderful attributes a state can offer its citizens, economic opportunity looms large as a deciding factor as to where people live. Unlike climate, which states cannot control, state policies do have a huge impact on economic opportunity. Unfortunately for New York, over the last decade, Albany has done little to implement policies that foster growth. In fact, with continued tax and fee increases, additional mandates on businesses, and an overall hostility to economic engines, we have gone in the opposite direction. Unless it is recognized in Albany that people and businesses “vote with their feet” and will seek out state’s with better opportunities, our state will continue to lead the nation in outward migration despite all of our state’s wonderful attributes.                      

William (Will) A. Barclay is the Republican representative of the 120th New York Assembly District, which encompasses most of Oswego County, including the cities of Oswego and Fulton, as well as the town of Lysander in Onondaga County and town of Ellisburg in Jefferson County. Contact him at barclaw@assembly.state.ny.us or (315) 598-5185.

You’re probably chuckling already. Seriously? “The joy of politics”? 

That was pretty much the reaction I got the other day when, in the middle of a conversation about how confrontational, adversarial, and downright unpleasant politics has become of late, I suggested that it could be both fun and a source of satisfaction.

Yes, of course there are always irritations and inconveniences. And the often mean-spirited tone of today’s contentious politics is well beyond anything I encountered when I was in office. 

But none of this erases the satisfactions that also come with the territory. They start with the people you can meet in the political arena — people who are able, ambitious, articulate, and often at the top of their game. They may be friends or foes, but the foes aren’t usually permanent — sometimes they become friends, as the debate moves along to other issues and you find yourself sharing common ground. In fact, you’re never lonely in politics, because nothing can be accomplished alone. You can gain huge satisfaction in the teamwork, in rolling up your sleeves with a likeminded group of people focused on a common goal. 

Politics is also what allows you to hold government to account, call out its misdeeds and failures, and highlight its successes. You find that you have a voice in the public debate. It’s hard, maybe impossible, to measure your own impact. But there is a true thrill in the battle: win, lose, or draw. You’re participating in the success and the direction of your community and your country.

More to the point, you’re trying to change things. As Teddy Roosevelt said in a famous 1910 speech, “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena… [Whose] place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” 

The satisfactions of engaging in politics do not just come when things are easy or running smoothly. They’re most acute, in fact, when circumstances are difficult, when being involved can make a difference, and when working through fraught times yields progress on the other side.

It’s true that progress is often incremental; it rarely comes all at once. The pleasures come from knowing that you’re doing your best to solve or mitigate problems and fighting for what you think is right. You’re participating in the great experiment of democracy in America, and are part of a long line of Americans trying to answer Lincoln’s question at Gettysburg of whether this nation “so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.” 

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said that one “may live greatly in the law.” It’s true for politics, too, despite its difficulties. It challenges you to develop your talents, to hone skills — listening, articulating your thoughts, negotiating with able adversaries and partners, building consensus, compromising in the name of moving forward — that are vital in all walks of life. At its best, politics stretches you and makes you live better. 

I have to confess that when I suggested to some of my colleagues that I planned to write about the joy of politics, they thought I was joking. Many people don’t like the political process, and they don’t want to engage in it. There is something about it that turns them off.

I recognize that it’s not an endeavor that fits everyone’s makeup or desires. But I’d also ask you this: if you’re serious about being a citizen in a democracy, how can you avoid engaging in it in the manner and to the extent of your choosing? In the end, politics is just how we Americans do our best to help our neighborhoods, our towns and cities, our states, and our country become even better places to live. And if you do get involved, here’s my bet: that you’ll have times that make you wonder why you bothered, but you’ll also find plenty of moments that bring you satisfaction, and even joy.      

Lee Hamilton is a senior advisor for the Indiana University (IU) Center on Representative Government, distinguished scholar at IU Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies, and professor of practice at the IU O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs. Hamilton, a Democrat, was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for 34 years, representing a district in south central Indiana.