Tom Cotton meet Brad Wenstrup

Arkansas has never been one of my favorites of America's 50 states (or is it 57, Mr. President?).

I just never cared much for the Razorbacks.

Certainly, I didn't care for the Clintons and their Whitewater and Cattle Futures Money Machine. Although Diamond Jim and Hot Pants Susan McDougal were always good for some Arkansas sooo-eeee laughs back in the late 1980s and early '90s. Ah, but they met with their unfortunate demise long ago.

The last time I was in Arkansas it was at the West Memphis dog track, I think. Maybe the dog track afternoon was on an earlier visit. I don't remember. It's been a few years. Nothing beats Arkansas in your rear-view mirror, I once thought. But I was wrong.

I'm beginning to think differently about Arkansas. Besides, how can anyone not like legendary football coach Frank Broyles?

After seeing that the good folks of the Fourth District elected conservative Tom Cotton to the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 6, I'm completely rethinking my opinion of Arkansas. I might even vacation in Hot Springs. Or at least Dardanelle and Yell County.

If you've ever watched the 1969 John Wayne movie "True Grit," you've certainly heard of Dardanelle in Yell County. In almost every other line spoken by actress Kim Darby – playing her Mattie Ross character – she proudly announced that she was "from Dardanelle in Yell County."

She told John Wayne. She told Glen Campbell. She told Strother Martin. And she told Robert Duvall.

Yes, by God, she was from Dardanelle in Yell County, Arkansas – named after Archibald Yell, who was the state's first member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

So is Tom Cotton.

From what National Review Senior Editor Jay Nordlinger wrote in NR's Nov. 12 edition, readers are left with the opinion that Congressman-elect Tom Cotton has every bit as much "grit" as the one-eyed Marshal Rooster Cogburn.

Cotton grew up in west-central rural Arkansas. He is a Harvard-educated attorney. He's also an Iraq-Afghanistan war veteran and a marathon runner.

Cotton's military decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Ranger Tab, Combat Infantryman Badge, Parachutist Badge, Air Assault Badge, Afghanistan Campaign Medal, and Iraq Campaign Medal.

According to Nordlinger, when Cotton enlisted, he was advised to serve in the JAG (Judge Advocate General) Corps. He declined. Instead, he became an Army Ranger and led troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"He went to Iraq with the 101st Airborne," Nordlinger said. "Later, he volunteered for Afghanistan. When he left active service in 2009, it was with the rank of captain."

He also publicly criticized the New York Times after the liberal … er, paper "exposed another classified national-security program."

The Times would not publish the captain's response, but others did.

Cotton told Nordlinger, "While President Obama and others speak of 'ending' the war (in Afghanistan), in my little corner of America, people like victory strategies instead of exit strategies."

Tom Cotton will take his oath of office to serve in Congress in January.

Highland County's Congressman-elect, Lt. Col. Dr. Brad Wenstrup, also will take his oath of office next month.

Like Cotton, Wenstrup also is a Bronze Star recipient for his military service in Iraq.

If Tom Cotton and Brad Wenstrup haven't met, I'm sure they soon will. Their general election victories are good things, not only for their respective states, but for the nation's future. (Too bad Mia Love won't be there, too.)

Already, both men have more military and private-sector experience than the second-term commander in chief and erstwhile community organizer.

Maybe the president can learn a little something from these new members of Congress.

One can hope.

Rory Ryan is publisher of The Highland County Press.