Sunday, August 3, 2025

Bill Crawford: Dimon & Duff Tout Small Democracy & Good Government

“I’m not sure if big democracy is that effective anymore,” said Jamie Dimon, “but small (local) democracy works.” Dimon, the highly successful CEO of the world’s largest bank, JP Morgan Chase, was addressing over 400 attendees at Mississippi Today’s “All in on Mississippi” forum.

“Mayors and governors always learn the same thing if they come out of the political realm and they never ran anything,” Dimon continued. “Running stuff is hard. If you don’t get it quickly, the place erodes. The good ones quickly learn that it’s about schools, crime, hospitals, roads, potholes, all these things that serve people. It’s not about the ideology.”

Another thing effective leaders learn, Dimon said, is competence. “You better damn well be good at it because if you’re not, you know, the politics takes over and you have an erosion of quality. And so good government, it works.”

“I want good government, that's all I care about,” said Tommy Duff a little later in the program. Duff, who knows how to run things as the highly successful operator of Southern Tire Mart, is a potential candidate for governor and was answering a question about the type of leaders he wants to support in government.

“Dimon said it best,” Duff said. “I mean, it's the local “d” (small democracy). They're working, they're trying to make the community a better place, they're doing it for the right reason. Those are the people that I support. Am I conservative? Certainly. And very conservative in my beliefs and in my thinking process. But I also realize that life has practicality, and you have to do the right things and move ahead.”


“You know my approach is to say the status quo hasn’t worked, what’s next?” Duff continued. “What can we come up with? Let’s get the pros. Let’s get the cons. Let’s flesh it out. Let’s see what the best thing to do for our state is. And that’s true on every issue.”

“I want to know the facts and the facts that are best for people in Mississippi.”

An attendee leaned over to me and whispered, “They sure support your view of good government.” I smiled, knowing the view of good government I wrote about in my book was really Gil Carmichael’s view.

My own thoughts were on the similarities between Duff’s views and Carmichael’s on good government despite 50 years between their times as potential governor candidates.

“I think the Mississippi of tomorrow will be better than the Mississippi of today,” said Duff. “But I think you have to have a visionary leadership to do those things.” Vision was a Carmichael thing too.

“Where there is no vision, the people perish” – Proverbs 29:18.

Crawford is the author of A Republican’s Lament: Mississippi Needs Good Government Conservatives.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why do I keep thinking that Mississippi Today wants Thomas Duff to win the Republican primary because they think that they can destroy him in the general election to insure a Democrat win for the first time in 24 years?

Anonymous said...

Andy Gipson for Governor!

Anonymous said...

Preach on, Mr. Duff. Having been a Republican since 1975, I am frustrated with the GOP's lack of vision, the shallow bench of solid candidates, and the corruption and coverup. The GOP is rife with sheep who will vote for anyone with an R beside their name.
Yes, I know the Dems are wayward and full of socialists tugging us into communism, but I am not a Democrat. I am a Republican who wants to address my colleagues, friends, and neighbors. We are tolerating mediocrity. We lack a shared vision, except to make money. We want public funds for private education, but no promotes teaching civics in public schools, while the average student cannot explain checks-and-balances and conservatives blame the Dems for this. No one is touting vo-tech classes for high schools. A few JuCos are ramping up vo-tech, which is positive. But, the GOP ought to lead this effort to promote MS as a place to live and work, thereby attracting industry.
RMQ

Anonymous said...


"But, the GOP ought to lead this effort to promote MS as a place to live and work, thereby attracting industry."

Sorry 10:14am....as long as things like "ole' Miss" and the "Ross Barnett Resevoir" are celebrated....far too many want to leave, and almost no one moves to or wants to move to Mississippi unless they have to.

Barksdale Today loves Duff because he likes playing to the left-leaning media. He's a Mormon....and is not beholden to the Baptist base of Mississippi. He and his brother made a billion from selling tires to the trucking industry and the poor....now he's very likely a limosine liberal at heart.

Anonymous said...

@10:03, same reason they pushed Waller so hard.

Anonymous said...

" He and his brother made a billion from selling tires to the trucking industry and the poor", if that's what you think of Thomas Duff, you know nothing of Thomas Duff.

Anonymous said...

The Duff bros made their billions selling tires on credit. That is where we are as a nation now.

Anonymous said...

@11:41 Amen, 11:04 knows not of what he speaks

Anonymous said...

Bill Crawford said: “Dimon, the highly successful CEO of the world’s largest bank.”

Democrat Jamie Dimon represents a lot of what’s wrong with this country today. Instead of idolizing these “heads they win, tails the tax payers loses” greedy a___d billionaires like Jamie Dimon, we should be calling them out for exactly who they are.

Ole Jamie benefited so much from the PPP1 lottery give away scam he had his girly man beta male Andrew Sorkin lecture a US Senator on CNBC relaying that Dimon had said this is childish, stop it, be done with it, just get the PPP2 passed. In other words, just give the money away regardless of who gets it OR whether or not they need it. Because of course it’s the rich people like Dimon that benefit from currency devaluation.

The Dimon’s and Fed Powell’s of America can float any crock of horse s__t via the idiot and/or liar media propagandists, like, “the inflation is transitory,” and the dumbed down electorate will gobble it up. Then, when the evidence that “transitory” was BS is beyond clear, the electorate is still too stupid to know why a starter home is 50% more than it was pre-covid.

10:14AM, until the Democrat Party tells their pervert, men play sports with girls/woke wing of their party to ____ off, do the country a favor by voting R in the general elections.


“No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.” Mathew 6:24

Anonymous said...

Barksdalers only feature Republicans and/or conservatives that are dumb enough to speak to them and who they think they can roll with their gotcha 'journalism'. If Duff doesn't have that figured out from the get-go then he's nowhere near ready for primetime.


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Trollfest '07 was such a success that Jackson Jambalaya will once again host Trollfest '09. Catch this great event which will leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Othor Cain and his band, The Black Power Structure headline the night while Sonjay Poontang returns for an encore performance. Former Frank Melton bodyguard Marcus Wright makes his premier appearance at Trollfest singing "I'm a Sweet Transvestite" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Kamikaze will sing his new hit, “How I sold out to da Man.” Robbie Bell again performs: “Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Bells” and “Any friend of Ed Peters is a friend of mine”. After the show, Ms. Bell will autograph copies of her mug shot photos. In a salute to “Dancing with the Stars”, Ms. Bell and Hinds County District Attorney Robert Smith will dance the Wango Tango.

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If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

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