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A Republican's Lament: Mississippi Needs Good Government Conservatives
Nominee for the 2025 Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Award for Nonfiction
Bill Crawford thought his modern-day Republican Party would lift Mississippi off the bottom, a notion born of Gil Carmichael’s vision for good government conservatism. A Republican’s Lament tells of Crawford’s dedicated efforts to implement Carmichael’s vision, his keen observations of Mississippi’s struggles, and his critical commentaries over the past half century.
For more than fifty years, few people have had a better view or a wider variety of roles in the ups and downs of Mississippi and its communities than Crawford. The Canton native has been a daily newspaper reporter, a crusading small-town weekly editor, a Republican Party leader, a reform-minded Republican state representative, an influential Institutions of Higher Learning board trustee, a successful banker, a community college administrator, a state economic development official, a community development leader and nonprofit founder, a mentor of developing community leaders, and a syndicated political columnist.
From Gil Carmichael's vision for good government and Haley Barbour’s pragmatic conservatism to starve the beast and truth management politics, poverty and the Cycle of Prosperity, Faulkner’s curse and other behavioral shadows, the Ayers case, and more, Crawford weaves a unique and eventful story about his home state’s enduring dilemmas and a clarion call for its better possibilities.
Bill Crawford thought his modern-day Republican Party would lift Mississippi off the bottom, a notion born of Gil Carmichael’s vision for good government conservatism. A Republican’s Lament tells of Crawford’s dedicated efforts to implement Carmichael’s vision, his keen observations of Mississippi’s struggles, and his critical commentaries over the past half century.
For more than fifty years, few people have had a better view or a wider variety of roles in the ups and downs of Mississippi and its communities than Crawford. The Canton native has been a daily newspaper reporter, a crusading small-town weekly editor, a Republican Party leader, a reform-minded Republican state representative, an influential Institutions of Higher Learning board trustee, a successful banker, a community college administrator, a state economic development official, a community development leader and nonprofit founder, a mentor of developing community leaders, and a syndicated political columnist.
From Gil Carmichael's vision for good government and Haley Barbour’s pragmatic conservatism to starve the beast and truth management politics, poverty and the Cycle of Prosperity, Faulkner’s curse and other behavioral shadows, the Ayers case, and more, Crawford weaves a unique and eventful story about his home state’s enduring dilemmas and a clarion call for its better possibilities.
221 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 9, 2024
About the author
Bill Crawford
47 books9 followersBill Crawford is a writer in Austin with an interest in Texas history. His previous books include Border Radio: Quacks, Yodelers, Pitchmen, Psychics, and Other Amazing Broadcasters of the American Airwaves (cowritten with Gene Fowler) and Stevie Ray Vaughan: Caught in the Crossfire (cowritten with Joe Nick Patoski).
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June 30, 2025
A Republicans Lament
A 2024 Book by Bill Crawford
Boyd Campbell
Oct 09, 2024
In the few brief years when Mississippi had two effective political parties, a book called “A Republican’s Lament” might have been about missed opportunities for the state GOP to outmaneuver the other party, and those reading it might have fond memories of races past when you faced the enemy, but you respected him.
Bill Crawford’s Book, “A Republican’s Lament: Mississippi Needs Good Government Conservatives,” begins there but spends most of its time in a climate where there was only one effective party in Mississippi, and he laments missed opportunities for his own party to do what was best for Mississippi. It’s a book where he tells the truth, but it won’t win him many allies among old friends.
There was a period between about 1970 and 2010 when Mississippi politics were neither too hot nor too cold. I call it our “Sweet spot.” We began to escape from the sins of the past and began to consider new solutions for the future. Mississippi, which had been a one-party state since before the Civil War, experienced a time when two parties found ways to exist, confront, and cooperate with each other before sinking back into one-party politics again. Bill Crawford’s new book, A Republican’s Lament, covers that era from the perspective of Republicans that arose in Mississippi in between The Southern Strategy and The Tea Party and offered Mississippi some real solutions, even when we didn’t avail ourselves of them.
1975 was one of the most storied gubernatorial elections in Mississippi history. William Winter and Maurice Dantin sought the Democratic nomination but lost to a relative unknown named Cliff Finch. In the General Election, Cliff Finch and Henry Kirksey faced off against a rising Republican named Gil Carmichael. A young man, driving and writing speeches for Carmichael is where Bill Crawford begins his political career and where he begins his book.
By all accounts, the Finch Campaign was a clown show, and Carmichael countered it with very solid and real proposals. It’s said that every Democrat in Jackson switched sides and voted for Carmichael, but Mississippi never had a Republican Governor, and many people considered it impossible. The election results surprised everybody, as Carmichael won forty-seven percent of the vote.
In the early days of the GOP in Mississippi, guys like Thad Cochran, Trent Lott, Gil Carmichael, and Jack Reed believed in a very different sort of conservatism than the Dixiecrats who came before them and the Tea Party Republicans who came after them. These are the days when Crawford cut his teeth as a speech writer, political operative, journalist, and publisher. He was often the voice of a new school of thought in Mississippi, pushing for new concepts in responsible government and the fresh idea of a “Right-Sized” government advocated by Gil Carmichael.
In the middle of the book, I consider two chapters considerably more important than the rest. Both were about education. Kirk Fordice, for all the things he did wrong, put Bill Crawford on the College Board, and that was the perfect choice. Crawford became a visible part of the two most important issues in the history of higher education in Mississippi: The Ayers Case and University Consolidation.
Some people will resent even mentioning University Consolidation. There were times when even old friends were angry with Crawford about it. In the poorest state in the Nation, we remain woefully overstretched regarding higher education. Crawford’s experience as a banker made him the perfect man for this task, even though, at the time, we didn’t have the political will to do what he recommended. Turning our backs on the problem didn’t solve it, and now it’s back, bigger than ever, and people are beginning to reconsider what Crawford said at the time.
I was in a position to know nearly everyone involved in the Ayers case, including Alvin Chambliss. I knew guys on both sides who spent most of their careers working on this case. They had to change the defendant's name about four times before it settled.
Representing Ayers, Chambliss proposed that the state of Mississippi intentionally underfunded its three Historically Black Universities for racist reasons. The State of Mississippi’s defense, as orchestrated by Bill Goodman, was that, while Historically Black Universities in Mississippi were valuable and wanted, single-race universities were as problematic when it was Mississippi Valley State as it was when it was The University of Mississippi.
When it became clear that Mississippi should reach a settlement built around the agreement reached by Louisiana in a similar case, Crawford was brought in to use his financial experience to draft a plan that made the settlement digestible by the state legislature so they would sign off on it and we could get it done. Sitting in a room with Chambliss, Goodman, and Ruben Anderson, this is what was eventually signed.
Crawford makes an argument for the “Right Size” tactic for good government put forth by men like Gil Carmichael, Hayley Barbour, and Thad Cochran, as opposed to the “Starve the Beast” plan put forth by the Tea Party at the time and carried on by the Maga Republicans we have now. This was the era when I began to wonder if there was a place for me in the Republican Party anymore.
Crawford, having announced his retirement but very likely writing more than ever, is calling people in the book by their names, including some people currently serving the State of Mississippi. There will be backlash. Shad White is already calling him an “aging white liberal,” and he hasn’t even read the book yet. I’ve read Shad White’s book. If you’re only going to read one of these, get Crawford’s “A Republican’s Lament.”
I was involved in Mississippi politics for twenty years and then avoided it for twenty more years. I have a small but remarkably complete library about how Mississippi governs itself. In the interest of full disclosure, Bill Crawford is my churchman and my friend. Crawford likes to end most of his political essays with an appropriate passage from the bible. I do genuinely believe his faith shapes his political activism and always has.
A Republican’s Lament mentions a lot of names of people I think about often and miss a great deal. Mississippi will not likely see their kind again. It’s a reasonably short read at just under 200 pages, published by the University Press of Mississippi. I hoped to have this review done a week ago, but a funeral happened while I was working on it. There’s a very real market for this kind of writing. Copies of it should begin showing up at bookstores any day now if they’re not there already.
In Jackson, Lemuria Books will hold a book signing event with Bill Crawford in conversation with Lloyd Gray of the Phil Hardin Foundation on Thursday, October 17th at 5:00pm. Signed hardcover copies are $28.00.
A 2024 Book by Bill Crawford
Boyd Campbell
Oct 09, 2024
In the few brief years when Mississippi had two effective political parties, a book called “A Republican’s Lament” might have been about missed opportunities for the state GOP to outmaneuver the other party, and those reading it might have fond memories of races past when you faced the enemy, but you respected him.
Bill Crawford’s Book, “A Republican’s Lament: Mississippi Needs Good Government Conservatives,” begins there but spends most of its time in a climate where there was only one effective party in Mississippi, and he laments missed opportunities for his own party to do what was best for Mississippi. It’s a book where he tells the truth, but it won’t win him many allies among old friends.
There was a period between about 1970 and 2010 when Mississippi politics were neither too hot nor too cold. I call it our “Sweet spot.” We began to escape from the sins of the past and began to consider new solutions for the future. Mississippi, which had been a one-party state since before the Civil War, experienced a time when two parties found ways to exist, confront, and cooperate with each other before sinking back into one-party politics again. Bill Crawford’s new book, A Republican’s Lament, covers that era from the perspective of Republicans that arose in Mississippi in between The Southern Strategy and The Tea Party and offered Mississippi some real solutions, even when we didn’t avail ourselves of them.
1975 was one of the most storied gubernatorial elections in Mississippi history. William Winter and Maurice Dantin sought the Democratic nomination but lost to a relative unknown named Cliff Finch. In the General Election, Cliff Finch and Henry Kirksey faced off against a rising Republican named Gil Carmichael. A young man, driving and writing speeches for Carmichael is where Bill Crawford begins his political career and where he begins his book.
By all accounts, the Finch Campaign was a clown show, and Carmichael countered it with very solid and real proposals. It’s said that every Democrat in Jackson switched sides and voted for Carmichael, but Mississippi never had a Republican Governor, and many people considered it impossible. The election results surprised everybody, as Carmichael won forty-seven percent of the vote.
In the early days of the GOP in Mississippi, guys like Thad Cochran, Trent Lott, Gil Carmichael, and Jack Reed believed in a very different sort of conservatism than the Dixiecrats who came before them and the Tea Party Republicans who came after them. These are the days when Crawford cut his teeth as a speech writer, political operative, journalist, and publisher. He was often the voice of a new school of thought in Mississippi, pushing for new concepts in responsible government and the fresh idea of a “Right-Sized” government advocated by Gil Carmichael.
In the middle of the book, I consider two chapters considerably more important than the rest. Both were about education. Kirk Fordice, for all the things he did wrong, put Bill Crawford on the College Board, and that was the perfect choice. Crawford became a visible part of the two most important issues in the history of higher education in Mississippi: The Ayers Case and University Consolidation.
Some people will resent even mentioning University Consolidation. There were times when even old friends were angry with Crawford about it. In the poorest state in the Nation, we remain woefully overstretched regarding higher education. Crawford’s experience as a banker made him the perfect man for this task, even though, at the time, we didn’t have the political will to do what he recommended. Turning our backs on the problem didn’t solve it, and now it’s back, bigger than ever, and people are beginning to reconsider what Crawford said at the time.
I was in a position to know nearly everyone involved in the Ayers case, including Alvin Chambliss. I knew guys on both sides who spent most of their careers working on this case. They had to change the defendant's name about four times before it settled.
Representing Ayers, Chambliss proposed that the state of Mississippi intentionally underfunded its three Historically Black Universities for racist reasons. The State of Mississippi’s defense, as orchestrated by Bill Goodman, was that, while Historically Black Universities in Mississippi were valuable and wanted, single-race universities were as problematic when it was Mississippi Valley State as it was when it was The University of Mississippi.
When it became clear that Mississippi should reach a settlement built around the agreement reached by Louisiana in a similar case, Crawford was brought in to use his financial experience to draft a plan that made the settlement digestible by the state legislature so they would sign off on it and we could get it done. Sitting in a room with Chambliss, Goodman, and Ruben Anderson, this is what was eventually signed.
Crawford makes an argument for the “Right Size” tactic for good government put forth by men like Gil Carmichael, Hayley Barbour, and Thad Cochran, as opposed to the “Starve the Beast” plan put forth by the Tea Party at the time and carried on by the Maga Republicans we have now. This was the era when I began to wonder if there was a place for me in the Republican Party anymore.
Crawford, having announced his retirement but very likely writing more than ever, is calling people in the book by their names, including some people currently serving the State of Mississippi. There will be backlash. Shad White is already calling him an “aging white liberal,” and he hasn’t even read the book yet. I’ve read Shad White’s book. If you’re only going to read one of these, get Crawford’s “A Republican’s Lament.”
I was involved in Mississippi politics for twenty years and then avoided it for twenty more years. I have a small but remarkably complete library about how Mississippi governs itself. In the interest of full disclosure, Bill Crawford is my churchman and my friend. Crawford likes to end most of his political essays with an appropriate passage from the bible. I do genuinely believe his faith shapes his political activism and always has.
A Republican’s Lament mentions a lot of names of people I think about often and miss a great deal. Mississippi will not likely see their kind again. It’s a reasonably short read at just under 200 pages, published by the University Press of Mississippi. I hoped to have this review done a week ago, but a funeral happened while I was working on it. There’s a very real market for this kind of writing. Copies of it should begin showing up at bookstores any day now if they’re not there already.
In Jackson, Lemuria Books will hold a book signing event with Bill Crawford in conversation with Lloyd Gray of the Phil Hardin Foundation on Thursday, October 17th at 5:00pm. Signed hardcover copies are $28.00.
March 4, 2026
Mississippi is a place of contradictions, burdened with dark secrets, stubborn scars, and a tangled history, yet still deeply and undeniably home. It is red clay roads and thick summer air, magnolia blossoms, and slow river sunsets. It holds painful truths alongside genuine points of pride. For those shaped by it, Mississippi is not merely a place on a map but a lifelong bond.
My own bond with the state began in 1975, the year I was born. As a daughter of the soil, my life has remained intertwined with Mississippi’s journey, never fully separated from its struggles or its promise.
I stumbled upon A Republican’s Lament: Mississippi Needs Good Government Conservatives, and it immediately intrigued me. In the book, Bill Crawford argues that a modern Republican Party, modeled after Gil Carmichael’s vision of principled, good government conservatism, could lift Mississippi from the bottom of national rankings. He chronicles his decades long effort to advance that idea, offering candid reflections on where the state has faltered, where progress has stalled, and where opportunity still exists.
I felt an immediate connection to Crawford, having shared another community with him, that of the servant leadership championed by Dr. Bill Scaggs of Meridian, Mississippi. I participated in the Midsouth Community College Fellowship Program in 2006 under Dr. Scaggs’s leadership. The core of that program was the same servant leadership philosophy that Crawford emphasizes throughout the book.
Few Mississippians have observed the state’s political and civic life from as many perspectives as Crawford. A Canton native, he has served as a daily newspaper reporter, small town editor, Republican Party leader, reform minded state representative, trustee of the Institutions of Higher Learning, banker, community college administrator, economic development official, nonprofit founder, mentor, and longtime syndicated columnist. These varied roles lend both depth and credibility to his analysis. He has seen Mississippi’s institutions from the inside and writes with the insight of someone who has actively helped shape them.
Crawford traces the ideological arc from Carmichael’s principled conservatism to Haley Barbour’s pragmatic approach to governance. Along the way, he examines themes such as starve the beast economics, truth management politics, persistent poverty, and what he calls the Cycle of Prosperity. He also explores the cultural and historical forces that continue to influence the state, invoking William Faulkner’s observation about the enduring presence of the past. From the controversy surrounding William L. Ayers to broader debates about accountability and leadership, Crawford blends policy analysis with personal experience.
What emerges is neither blind loyalty nor bitter condemnation. Instead, A Republican’s Lament is an earnest, sometimes frustrated, yet ultimately hopeful reflection on Mississippi. Crawford acknowledges the state’s flaws without surrendering his belief in its potential. Like Mississippi itself, flawed, beautiful, and complex, the book argues that home is worth both honest critique and faithful commitment.
The contrast between Crawford’s vision and today’s political climate is striking. Nothing highlights the shift in Mississippi politics more than witnessing the self serving instincts that now characterize much of the state’s GOP leadership. The rhetoric still promises principle and prosperity, but too often the results appear tailored for insiders rather than the citizens casting ballots.
The phrase “voting against their own best interest” comes to mind when discussing the current governor. Tate Reeves remains a polarizing figure, criticized even by many who ultimately supported him. Yet he secured reelection by closely aligning himself with Donald Trump and embracing the identity driven politics of the modern national Republican Party.
In today’s Mississippi, party loyalty often outweighs local approval. Frustration at home can be overshadowed by allegiance to national figures. Symbolism frequently carries more weight than policy outcomes. Whether one sees that strategy as shrewd politics or troubling pragmatism, it reflects a significant transformation in how leadership is won and maintained in the state.
For readers who love Mississippi, question it, or simply want to understand its enduring dilemmas, Crawford offers both seasoned perspective and a thoughtful call for better possibilities. And for that, I am grateful. As a native Mississippian, I want Mississippi and its citizens to experience all the greatness the state can offer and to no longer be held back by poor political choices.
My own bond with the state began in 1975, the year I was born. As a daughter of the soil, my life has remained intertwined with Mississippi’s journey, never fully separated from its struggles or its promise.
I stumbled upon A Republican’s Lament: Mississippi Needs Good Government Conservatives, and it immediately intrigued me. In the book, Bill Crawford argues that a modern Republican Party, modeled after Gil Carmichael’s vision of principled, good government conservatism, could lift Mississippi from the bottom of national rankings. He chronicles his decades long effort to advance that idea, offering candid reflections on where the state has faltered, where progress has stalled, and where opportunity still exists.
I felt an immediate connection to Crawford, having shared another community with him, that of the servant leadership championed by Dr. Bill Scaggs of Meridian, Mississippi. I participated in the Midsouth Community College Fellowship Program in 2006 under Dr. Scaggs’s leadership. The core of that program was the same servant leadership philosophy that Crawford emphasizes throughout the book.
Few Mississippians have observed the state’s political and civic life from as many perspectives as Crawford. A Canton native, he has served as a daily newspaper reporter, small town editor, Republican Party leader, reform minded state representative, trustee of the Institutions of Higher Learning, banker, community college administrator, economic development official, nonprofit founder, mentor, and longtime syndicated columnist. These varied roles lend both depth and credibility to his analysis. He has seen Mississippi’s institutions from the inside and writes with the insight of someone who has actively helped shape them.
Crawford traces the ideological arc from Carmichael’s principled conservatism to Haley Barbour’s pragmatic approach to governance. Along the way, he examines themes such as starve the beast economics, truth management politics, persistent poverty, and what he calls the Cycle of Prosperity. He also explores the cultural and historical forces that continue to influence the state, invoking William Faulkner’s observation about the enduring presence of the past. From the controversy surrounding William L. Ayers to broader debates about accountability and leadership, Crawford blends policy analysis with personal experience.
What emerges is neither blind loyalty nor bitter condemnation. Instead, A Republican’s Lament is an earnest, sometimes frustrated, yet ultimately hopeful reflection on Mississippi. Crawford acknowledges the state’s flaws without surrendering his belief in its potential. Like Mississippi itself, flawed, beautiful, and complex, the book argues that home is worth both honest critique and faithful commitment.
The contrast between Crawford’s vision and today’s political climate is striking. Nothing highlights the shift in Mississippi politics more than witnessing the self serving instincts that now characterize much of the state’s GOP leadership. The rhetoric still promises principle and prosperity, but too often the results appear tailored for insiders rather than the citizens casting ballots.
The phrase “voting against their own best interest” comes to mind when discussing the current governor. Tate Reeves remains a polarizing figure, criticized even by many who ultimately supported him. Yet he secured reelection by closely aligning himself with Donald Trump and embracing the identity driven politics of the modern national Republican Party.
In today’s Mississippi, party loyalty often outweighs local approval. Frustration at home can be overshadowed by allegiance to national figures. Symbolism frequently carries more weight than policy outcomes. Whether one sees that strategy as shrewd politics or troubling pragmatism, it reflects a significant transformation in how leadership is won and maintained in the state.
For readers who love Mississippi, question it, or simply want to understand its enduring dilemmas, Crawford offers both seasoned perspective and a thoughtful call for better possibilities. And for that, I am grateful. As a native Mississippian, I want Mississippi and its citizens to experience all the greatness the state can offer and to no longer be held back by poor political choices.
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