What gives me hope for America – despite what many politicians or media talking heads tell us?1/28/2026  I’m showing my age now but if Robin Williams’ character, Mork from the planet Ork, broadcast in the late 70’s TV show “Mork and Mindy,” were to land his spaceship anywhere in the United States and only watch the mainstream news reports, he would probably get back into his spaceship and head straight back to Ork (I’m sure yelling, “Nanu nanu”). The news reports would make him believe this country is broken and beyond repair. He would think our citizens, young and old, members of Congress, and Governors and mayors of many (blue) states are ready to throw in the towel. Mork would believe our educational systems are failing our young people and this great country we’ve built for nearly 250 years is on a path towards nothing but violence and despair. He would get the heck out of Dodge.
But Mork would be wrong. He needs to look beyond the headlines and look at what the actual people of this great country are doing on a daily basis. I read a true story recently about a journalist who, last year, found herself with her husband in a small town in western Virginia. They wandered into a tavern where the locals were celebrating the 250th birthday of the United States Army (for my fellow Army vets, I say, “Hooahh!”). They had a nice local band and she wrote that the crowd was “old and young, black and white, gay and straight.” Despite their differences, these neighbors all seemed to know each other and made the personal choice to get together for a shared historic purpose. Their conversations showed a variety of diverse political opinions but each and every one of them were polite and respectful. They greeted one another warmly and recognized the veterans in the crowd. I believe this is a prime example of small-town America and something that continues to give me hope for the future of America. I expect such celebrations occurred across the U.S. in towns and cities, large and small. I see some of the same kind of behavior here in Pahrump. I look at reports of major catastrophes, from car wrecks to fires to earthquakes and floods, and see neighbors helping neighbors and strangers helping strangers, not for money or glory but because it is the right thing to do and they are kind, caring people. This is what gives me hope. When we were vacationing in The Netherlands many years ago, we took our son to a large public pool with a wave machine. My lovely bride pointed to a young girl at the bottom of the pool after the wave machine had stopped and she didn’t seem to be moving and was being ignored. No one was reacting. I didn’t ignore her because she wasn’t my child. I didn’t call for a lifeguard because it wasn’t my job. I dove under the water, grabbed her, lifted her to the side of the pool, and started CPR until the lifeguards finally arrived. It was the right thing to do. These are the types of things I hear and read about every day across America…these acts should be reported on, not all the negative news reporting that seems to dominate every news cycle. I grow tired of the “lame” stream media always using “if it bleeds, it leads” to report the news. Let’s celebrate the good things everyday citizens do daily because it is the right thing to do…because it is the kind thing to do. Despite how the media might paint America, I continue to believe that the majority of Americans will do the right thing. The soldiers I served with during my twenty-four-year Army career were doing the right thing. They weren’t doing it for glory or a paycheck (those that served know you don’t get rich serving in the military). They were doing it for what I believe was a higher purpose…they felt an obligation to serve our country and help maintain what so many of our citizens take for granted. Many lost their lives doing the right thing for the battle buddy serving alongside them and for this great country. They should be celebrated as heroes. They should be celebrated together with our first responders – the firefighters who run into burning buildings and the brave law enforcement officers who run towards the sound of gunfire to save lives – and our medical professionals who work long hours without any call for recognition or glory. These groups of brave citizens across the U.S. give me hope for this country. It’s always been one of my strongest desires that a prerequisite for serving in Congress is to have served in the military. When these veterans then serve in Congress, they have a better understanding and basis for voting on such things as military pay, veteran healthcare, and may think twice before sending our loved ones into hostile fire zones. Serving in the military and deploying overseas also gives you a greater appreciation for the freedoms we enjoy. I served 18 of my 24 years deployed outside of the U.S. It gave me, my wife, and my son (who lived overseas from the second grade through high school graduation) a greater appreciation for America, the opportunities it offers, and the freedoms we enjoy. I have no regrets serving in the military. I even wrote an earlier article, “Hooahh! Is a career in the military for you?” in Issue 8 of the Grassroot Conservative eMagazine, and would invite you to read it. (Sorry, I’ll get off my military soapbox now.) The pundits, politicians from both sides of the aisle at the national and local level, and talking heads on TV and the internet are telling us this great Republic is falling apart, the current situation is hopeless, the President is leading us down a path we may never recover from, and to rebel (which many interpret as a plea for violence). They are wrong. Despite what the news reports or our elected (mostly blue) politicians say, the things I see being done by your “average” citizen every day and in every state, and the heroes who serve day in and day out, give me hope. Most of our politicians do not inspire me or give me hope for this country. It’s not the professional athletes, musicians, or actors celebrated as “heroes” that give me hope for America. Their taking a “brave” stand by repeating some catchphrase for more clicks on the internet don’t give me hope. It is the individual citizen who does the right thing only because it is right; it’s the ones who serve in the military; it’s our first responders; and, it’s those that serve their community in ways big and small to improve things for everyone without any expectation of recognition or glory. They are the ones who should be celebrated and who give me hope. I hope it does the same for you, too. Jerry Hashimura Pahrump, NV Grassroot Conservative Contributor
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 Save the date ladies! Men, save the date for your lady friends. Sunday May 3rd at Nevada Treasure RV Resort in Pahrump, women will be served and treated to a wonderful afternoon of fellowship, finger-foods, entertainment, great speakers and of course, tea! Early bird pricing is available at the link below! This is shaping up to be a perennial must-attend event in Nye County. God Bless!
-Matt Sadler https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-4th-annual-conservative-womens-tea-tickets-1981500911567?aff=oddtdtcreator  I read an interesting article recently about America’s upcoming 250-year celebration that inspired me to write this article (please remember, my “inspiration meter” is set pretty low).
When we talk about the upcoming July 4th, we inevitably talk about it being the 250th birthday of the United States. In fact, this past New Year’s Eve, the first image projected on the Washington Monument to start the year was a 250-foot birthday candle. But is this really the way we should refer to this upcoming historic day for America. Birthdays usually don’t celebrate the birth itself; it marks the time since that moment. Happy 40th birthday doesn’t celebrate the day you were born but the day you reached 40 years on this earth. Birthdays may talk about the road you travelled during that time and the growth and development following your birth but not your actual birth; after all, you and I didn’t accomplish a lot on the day of our birth. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we shouldn’t celebrate the growth and development of this great nation – we should. America has grown immensely since 1776 and accomplished much. It’s the reason so many people have a desire to come to this country, legally and illegally. But this 250th celebration is more than a mere birthday. Much, much more. Many use the word “anniversary” to mark this upcoming event. A wedding anniversary comes close and is a surprisingly appropriate analogy. A wedding marks a commitment to start something together; to start on a path together to become more than just one. One of the many things we should celebrate on July 4th is this commitment 250 years ago to start down this road together. At times, this might seem counterintuitive, our founding fathers committing us to start something together, since the Declaration of Independence came from a decision to separate ourselves from British rule, not unite. But the Declaration starts by describing itself as “The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America.” Note that the word “united” is not capitalized…at that time it was a description not a proper name. So, the Declaration of Independence not only announced a break from British rule but a joining of the thirteen colonies. (I wrote an article on exactly this topic of unity that was published in the Grassroot Conservative eMagazine, Issue 12, published July 16, 2025. I would invite you to read it if you missed it.) I like to go back in history to get inspired by words written by great Americans that I can strive to match but likely never will. History is what motivates me to try and write better each and every time I sit down at my keyboard. I go back to Abraham Lincoln’s famous speech – the Gettysburg Address. It begins with words so many of us will never erase from our internal hard drive: “Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.” Take a moment and think about what these words really mean. They are truly inspirational on what our founding fathers “conceived” and “brought forth” in this “new nation” – the United States of America. We should celebrate what these men did and how far we have come since that day. America was founded almost 250 years ago…you and I were not its founders, we inherited it. I was born here, as many of you were, and my lovely bride legally immigrated and is now a proud American who has fully embraced her citizenship, as many before her did. While we are not founders or descended from the original founders, we did and continue to do our best to make America better. I think it is incumbent upon us to leave things better than we found it. I would hope all American citizens feel the same (despite what I see daily on the news). This is one of the motivations for my serving 24 years in the Army; I felt an obligation to this great country (the three generations of my family born in America have all had men that served in the military). I am writing this article on Martin Luther King Day. A very great man, in my humble opinion, who did much to advance civil rights in this country. So, I thought it appropriate to end this article by saying no matter how much division I see in our government and among its citizens, “I have a dream,” too, of a better America. As The Reverend Doctor King said so eloquently, “…we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence…I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” As we begin to celebrate America’s 250th year, let’s all try to live by Dr. King’s words of non-violence and conducting any struggle we might face “on the high plane of dignity and discipline” and not “degenerate into physical violence.” Jerry Hashimura Pahrump, NV  It’s been all over the news, almost nonstop, for some time now because of President Trump’s statements about the U.S. needing to take over Greenland for “national security” reasons. In the words of today’s youth, I can only say, “WTF?”
Don’t get me wrong. I’m still a Trump supporter but it’s getting harder and harder to justify some of his actions against his campaign promise of America First. I voted for him in 2016 and took pride in what he said he would do and his backing it up with what he accomplished during his first term. I characterize his first term as, “He promised it; he won it; he did it.” Watching America fall into the dismal state it did during the Biden Administration’s four years was sickening. I voted for him again in 2024 because I believed his campaign promises would be fulfilled like he did in his first term…and voting in Kamala Harris as President would have been a nightmare. President Trump started strong with his crackdown at the border, eliminating most of the Biden initiatives that were to blame for most of the troubles facing America, his elimination of DEI initiatives, and his strengthening of the economy. After Biden’s disastrous border policy (or no border policy really), it’s hard to believe that we now have negative migration (more leaving than coming in). Even though I cringed at Trump’s flip-flop attitude concerning tariffs, who can argue that the United States should be treated fairly and equitably by our trading partners…and, based on statistics I have reviewed, his tariffs brought in $200 billion in his first twelve months in office (and that’s not including the massive amounts of investments promised by our foreign partners – which Trump claims is in the $21 trillion range but might really be somewhere between $7 and $9.7 trillion; which I still view as a great accomplishment). Biden was a joke to our foreign investment partners. I wrote an earlier article on Trump’s successful capture of Venezuela’s Maduro, so you know my feelings on that military operation. He claimed it was to stop drug’s coming to the U.S. and Maduro’s treatment of the citizens of Venezuela but I think it’s clearer now that he wanted Venezuela’s oil. Now, on the heels of Maduro’s capture and rendition to the U.S., Trump has ramped up his rhetoric on the United States taking over Greenland; which has our NATO partners worried and many other countries shaking their heads. Greenland is in the Arctic region. The Arctic region consists of territory across eight countries: the U.S., Canada, Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. About 80% of Greenland is covered by ice and has around 56,000 residents. It is a former colony of Denmark and is now an autonomous territory of Denmark. Greenland is rich in minerals and home to two rare earth deposits that are among the biggest in the world. While the U.S. signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Greenland during Trump’s first term to explore joint projects, that MOU is nearing expiration since Biden could not get it extended. Trump even offered to purchase Greenland during his first term but was told that Greenland was not for sale. The U.S. has long suffered from a lack of rare earth minerals that are integral to many of our consumer goods, like cars, clothing, drugs, smartphones, and are especially important to our national defense – things like our fighter jets, submarines, guided missiles, drones, night vision devices, secure communication systems, and advanced radar systems. We are very, very dependent on China, who holds the majority of rare earth minerals today, and when China implemented export controls on rare earth minerals, Trump ramped up his talk of acquiring Greenland. So, yes, it’s about national security but like he said Maduro was about drugs when it was really about oil, Greenland is about minerals because America outsourced its defense to China. Even though Denmark doesn’t have the military might or resources of the U.S., imagine this scenario: what if Denmark told the U.S. that Alaska is key to Denmark’s national security and offered to buy it? They would be told in no uncertain terms that it is not for sale. Likewise, if Denmark said they would annex Alaska through other means, maybe even military force, it would not be taken kindly. Greenland would welcome U.S. investment and partnership in mining rare earth and other minerals but nothing has really occurred. If the U.S. won’t invest in Greenland, their only other option may be to turn to other investors, like China. I’m hopeful our NATO allies would step up to invest in Greenland before they turn to China or Russia. Let’s also not forget that the U.S. has a military base in Greenland going back to 1951. It seems to me that we could take some of the $200 billion in tariffs received last year to bolster our military base in Greenland and partner with Greenland and other NATO countries to invest in rare earth and other mineral mining in Greenland. I won’t argue that Greenland is not important to the national security of the U.S., it certainly is given its location and wealth of rare earth minerals, and our failure to have a reliable source for rare earth minerals within the U.S. or from an ally country. However, there are good and bad ways to ensure America’s national security. It’s my opinion that Trump and the White House saying publicly that it is “discussing a range of options” to acquire Greenland and that using the U.S. military is not off the table is taking the bad way by threatening a NATO partner. We should do better than that. Jerry Hashimura Pahrump, NV |
Authors"The Grassroot Conservative" publication is a collection of Southern Nevada authors with strong independent voices writing on the issues that matter. Matt Sadler is the editor-in-chief of this new eMagazine and blog, Each author brings life experience, talent, and insight to each thoughtful article. Archives
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