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GUEST COLUMN:
** It's OK to love America
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by Leslie Rutledge Special to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette ([link removed])
Recently, Boyce and I took our daughter Julianna to Boston. She had been learning about the American Revolution in school and was over the moon about throwing tea into the hahbah(sorry, I could not resist).
As we stood there on the historic waterfront, watching her excitement, it struck me how incredible the moment really was. Here was a little girl from Arkansas feeling a direct, personal connection to the bold men and women who risked everything for liberty two and a half centuries ago, a thousand miles away in Massachusetts. In her joy and excitement, I saw the living thread of Patriotism. Not as abstract history, but as an inheritance we are called to cherish and pass on.
Today, that inheritance seems underappreciated and under pressure. A recent Gallup poll shed concerning light on the state of patriotism today. Only 53% of American adults say they are “extremely” or “very” proud to be American. That’s a record low. For decades, influential (and often coastal) voices in media and academia have taught our children to feel guilt and shame about their national heritage rather than gratitude for the freest and most opportunity-rich society the world has ever known. Proclaiming your love for America has become, in some circles, taboo.
Folks, I can’t believe I feel the need to say this: your love for your country isn’t something that must be uttered in hushed tones or softened with qualifiers. It is ok to love America, out loud, and in public. It is ok to pass down a legacy of love for America to your children as well. In fact, I would argue, it’s your duty.
That duty starts with remembering and relaying the extraordinary foundation our country was built upon. The Declaration of Independence and our Constitution were radical departures from every government that came before them. They declared that rights come from God, not from the state. Government exists by the consent of the governed and must be strictly limited. Federalism, separation of powers, and the Bill of Rights created a framework unlike any other. It was such a departure from the norm of human society to that point that Alexis de Tocqueville called us the “first new nation.”
This structure has endured longer than any written national constitution in history and has inspired freedom movements around the world, from the French Revolution to the fall of the Berlin Wall to people still yearning for liberty today. The Constitution is not a relic that needs to go the way of the Dodo as some academics would have us believe. It is the operating system that delivered the greatest society on Earth.
Our nation’s record proves the power of the Constitution's principles. From 13 struggling colonies, America became the world’s leading economy in just over two centuries through private property, free markets, and individual initiative. Here in Arkansas, that spirit is alive every day. Our family farm, like so many others in Arkansas, helps feed the nation and the world. American abundance and work ethic have changed the globe.
We have also shown a remarkable capacity for self-correction. Slavery was ended, women gained the right to vote, and civil rights were advanced. Each time a great step forward was taken, it was made by appealing to our founding creed of equality under the law rather than rejecting it. America’s genius has always been the ability to form that “more perfect union.” On the global stage, we helped defeat fascism and communism and served as a beacon for those seeking opportunity, while remaining a defender of freedom.
Arkansas itself shows why this matters now. In an era of grievance politics and identity division, Arkansas offers a different path. We are resilient people who love our country, work hard, and still believe the American Dream is alive and well in what those coastal elites call “flyover country.” My own story would only be possible in America.
I saw the American Dream in real time. Ona Lou, my grandmother with an eighth-grade education, worked days at Ward Ice Cream and took bookkeeping classes at night in Fort Smith to pay her bills and raise her three children. Her grit paid off: all of her children graduated from college and built outstanding careers. One retired as a Deputy Director of Mental Health of the Veterans Administration and another became a teacher who married a Lt. Colonel in the Air Force. Her youngest was a farmer, lawyer, judge, and presidential appointee who raised Arkansas’s first woman Attorney General and Lt. Governor.
Growing up on an Arkansas cattle farm and with a Grandma like Ona Lou, I learned firsthand the value of hard work and service. Our state embodies the heartland virtues that make America exceptional: faith, family, community, self-reliance, stewardship of the land, and, yes, patriotism. These were values my family modeled every day and made sure to pass down to me.
Sadly, some claim that celebrating American exceptionalism is simply an arrogant, biased view of our history. Every nation has dark chapters, and America’s are thoroughly documented because of our free speech and free press. What truly sets us apart is not perfection, but the framework that was created to push us ever toward a “more perfect union.” The rule of law, elections, and civil society allow us to pursue continuous reform without tearing down the house. Patriotism is the precondition for honest criticism, not its enemy. Gratitude fuels responsibility.
As I watched Julianna’s eyes light up on that Boston waterfront, I saw the future we must protect. One day, she will teach her own children about the Revolution, the Constitution, and the country that allowed a single mother to change the fortunes of her family for generations. She’ll remember being that little girl from Arkansas who felt she had a personal stake in a place where liberty had been defended centuries earlier.
It is ok to love America. Out loud and without apology. More than that, it's necessary. Let us teach our children to be proud of this exceptional nation, to defend its principles, and to pass down that same simple, joyful patriotism I saw in my daughter’s face that day. Because when we love America, we fight to keep her strong, free, and true to the ideals that made her the greatest nation on earth.
Leslie Rutledge serves as the lieutenant governor of Arkansas. She previously served as the 56th attorney general of Arkansas from 2015-2023
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Leslie Rutledge for Lt. Governor
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Little Rock, AR 72203
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