The people who stay, win
It's easy to rage quit. But the future of North Carolina’s institutions depends on who sticks around.
I nerd out on theology podcasts. On one recent episode, a Catholic host was talking with a young Presbyterian who goes by the name Redeemed Zoomer.
The conversation eventually turned to Protestant church splits — the kind that happen after there’s a big decision around a hot topic like same-sex marriage or female clergy. In many cases, the people who lose the vote decide to break off and start something new. But then RZ, as he’s called, said something that stuck with me.
“The liberals are the ones who kept the institutions. The conservatives are the ones who ran away.”
He was pointing to a pattern — and not just in churches. He brought up conservative theologians leaving mainstream seminaries to start Bible colleges. The splintering of the Boy Scouts. A broader trend he called “retreatism.”
He’s not wrong. You don’t have to look far to see the same instinct playing out across North Carolina — and not just on the right.
Universities. Public schools. Political parties. Civic organizations. Media. When things start to go sideways, the most frustrated people rarely dig in. They leave.
Whoever stays gets the keys
Sometimes walking away is an act of principle. You see something foundational being lost, and you don’t want to be complicit in what it’s becoming. So you start something new. There’s some dignity in that.
But it does raise a question: What happens to the institutions that are left behind?
Because institutions don’t disappear when people leave, they just shift. The people who remain inherit not just the building and the brand, but the infrastructure and the credibility.