Last month, I was interviewed for Steve Harrison’s piece on why North Carolina Democrats lost statewide again, and the headline was “Who is to blame?”
When things fall apart - in politics, in society, in government - the blame game is inevitable; but what if there is a simpler - and kinder - explanation than blame?
Over the past year, we’ve seen structures important to the Charlotte and North Carolina communities ossify, decay, and sometimes break. For example, the Charlotte Area Transportation System is facing historically low ridership numbers, staffing shortages, “ghost buses,” and physical danger to drivers and employees. These problems culminated in multiple resignations near the end of the year, and a report outlining significant problems that was released two days before Christmas.
In politics, Y’all Weekly has already covered ways in which traditional Democratic Party structures have broken down. A common refrain I’ve heard from local activists has been that a leadership change is needed, which is not uncommon after a big loss - especially a loss that may have national consequences.
However, more than individual personalities, I’ve often seen entropy - a gradual decline into disorder - as the likely reason why structures fail.
Organizations and institutions often carry forward due to institutional inertia - they keep going, losing more and more speed and energy each passing year. The survival of the institutions hides the structural problems and decay until they reach the point at which they break under stress, like Southwest Airlines did last week, or like many organizations have due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In both social organizations and thermodynamics, it takes a lot of energy to mitigate entropy or build something anew, and quite less energy and effort to destroy something.
Y’all Weekly was born out of many things, but the flashpoint was the closure of the Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte. Many of us involved wanted to prevent other cultural institutions from closing. We chose an act of creation - and that’s something we hope to continue in 2023. We want to continue to help new voices and institutions grow.
That’s why the act of creation is so important, and so necessary at this time - and why one of Y’all Weekly’s priorities for 2023 is a “Queen New Deal” - a set of public policy, political policy, and social capital proposals to build a new Charlotte.
As Anderson Clayton, a candidate for chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, writes in Y’all Weekly’s “On the Record” in Issue #8, “The people closest to the pain deserve to be closest to the power.”
I’ve used the “Queen New Deal” branding and platform before on political campaigns, but I believe it can be even more transformative separated from any one person or party. There is an important Charlotte City Council Election this year - and it’s one we’ll be paying attention to.
With that in mind, we want to hear from you, and continue to empower voices from all of Charlotte and North Carolina. We won’t always get it right, and nor will our writers - but we hope to always move the conversation in a direction that best approaches justice.
Hopefully Y’all Weekly can play a small role in creating a better, bolder Charlotte.