by James Banakis

July 1, 2026

“I believe in America.” This is the famous opening line uttered by Amerigo Bonasera from The Godfather. Even though Bonasera was expressing some disillusionment at the time, the line reverberates with me. It touches my heart because it’s representative of the early immigrant conviction. Throughout the 19^th century and early 20^th century we developed into a country of immigrants. The American experience was so enthralling and spellbinding that most immigrants wanted to assimilate and become American. They wished to leave behind the systems that failed them and risked everything because of the promise of America. In doing so they brought with them customs, work ethic, faith, and recipes that seasoned the fabric of the nation. The first generation of immigrants always worked tirelessly to create a better opportunity for their children. That was the promise we inherited. Americans of all ethnic backgrounds developed into, E Pluribus Unum, “Out of Many One.” As we enter our 251^st year what has become of that unbridled patriotism, that love of country?

Recently a survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal and the University of Chicago concluded that patriotism was important to only 38% of Americans. In 1998 that figure was 70%.

I grew up in that pre – 2000 America, then a nation that valued love of country. I believed as many of you did that, we were a great country worthy of our love and civic allegiance. That we had a civic culture set up by the Founders. I was taught that in school. I was taught that by my family. I was taught that in church. I was surrounded by it in my community. Our political leaders reenforced that sentiment in their governance. “The American Way of Life,” was something we all understood. “America First’ was something we never questioned. It used to be a bi-partisan existence.

After 9/11, on the advice of Dick Cheeney and the Neocons, George W.

Bush decided to attempt nation building in the Middle East. Bad idea.

Assertive, interventionist foreign policy aimed at spreading and forcing American values has never worked with Muslim countries.  We expended needless blood and treasure. Bush went from being extremely popular to leading adrift and having his approval rating tank. The country was then positioned for a hard left turn. Enter Barak Obama with his worldwide apology tour. This was the turning point.

Now I’ve been accused by my liberal friends and a few family members of blaming everything on Obama. Usually, my response is that it’s difficult for me not to because the line of demarcation is so broad and obvious. This however is not what I want what this column to be about. I’m a glass half full kind of guy and I see our path as united people to be pointing up after cratering for the past 25 years of avoidable wars, government deceptions, and pandemic.

I’m not just blaming politicians. Most Americans have learned to tune out their noise, as it is just reckless bombast.  In the election of 2024, the Obama’s tried desperately to influence the base of the democratic party and failed miserably. I’m in the camp that believes that we’ve finally turned the page on the era of the former president.

I lay the primary blame on our schools, school boards, universities, the media and Hollywood culture. Too many kids graduate from our universities with debt bred by the universities. Not only are they much less educated completely lacking in any knowledge of history, classics, and civics, they receive flawed degrees, i.e. D.E.I studies, then arrogantly and confidently view themselves as intellectually superior. This is the tipoff that they’ve been indoctrinated. They mimic the same silly talking points of Hollywood types and media crybabies like Scott Pelley.

It’s the elitist mantra that anything we as Americans honor from our past needs to be incinerated. Like all Jacobins they view themselves as perfection, and their ideology as gospel. Their common creed is that patriotism is in fact nationalism, white supremacy and fascist. So, they tear down the statues in the parks, desecrate the monuments, defile the history books, and shut down free speech. They are embarrassed by any demonstration of love of country.  Remember Patriotism is taught and exhibited to us, and the woke authorities in the schools and the media have stopped teaching it. Civic studies must be resurrected and saved.

I see hope on the horizon. One thing I bear witness to is that everything in life is cyclical. Recently, I came across a remarkable answer Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave during a press conference. Rubio is a classic product of the immigrant culture. His parents were part of the great, heroic Cuban migration in the early 1960’s. The Cuban people fleeing Castro’s takeover yearned for freedom, opportunity and individual liberty. In most cases they left everything behind and risked their lives for a better existence for their children. Marco Rubio has become a finished product of the Cuban immigrant wave of freedom.

The Cuban community has enriched our country in countless ways. My childhood idol was the Cuban Comet, Minnie Minoso, and as an adult I got to know, love, and respect Minnie, and all things Cuban through the eyes of Cuban Americans.  The Rubio family story is an example of what American immigration was meant to be, assimilation, hard work, study hard without pretenses, and giving back to the country and system that made it all possible.

I also believe that when the Cuban people are finally free, as they will be in our lifetime, it’ll be because of the actions of one of their own Cuban American sons.  That’s genuine “nation building” preordained, the way nature intended it to unfold.

When asked at a press conference what his hope for America was, the secretary of state didn’t miss a beat: 

“My hope for America? It’s the same as it’s always been”: We want [America] to continue to be the place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything. Where you’re not limited by the circumstances of your birth, by the color of your skin, by your ethnicity.

But frankly, it’s a place where you can overcome challenges and achieve your full potential.

Rubio continued:

I think in the U.S. we’re not perfect. Our history is not one of perfection. But it’s still better than anybody else’s history. And ours is a story of perpetual improvement. Each generation has left the next generation of Americans freer, more prosperous, safer. And that is our goal as well.

[America] is a unique and exceptional country. And as we come upon this 250-year anniversary, I think we have a lot to learn and be proud of in our history. It is one of perpetual and continuous improvement, where each generation has done its part to bring us closer to fulfilling the vision that the founders of this country had upon its founding.

Love of country gives all of us a sense of place in time. Lincoln referred to it as our, Bonds of Affection. I pray that in the future all our leaders will be able to effortlessly answer the question, “What is your hope for our country?” with a similar patriotic response.  That we as a people wake up as a united populace with renewed inspired leadership, and a rehabilitated patriotism.

On July 3,1776, a clairvoyant John Adams wrote to his influential, remarkable wife Abagail how Americans should celebrate Independence Day:

I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.

Most amazing to me is that Adams foresaw a nation from one end of the continent to the other. Our founders were an extraordinary collection of human beings who gifted all of us our reason for existence. Principles that have been there with us from the start.  We just need to be reminded occasionally.

Upon the conclusion of the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was approached by a woman who asked whether the newly drafted government would be a monarchy or a republic. He replied, “A Republic, if you can keep it”— urging us that liberty requires lively, informed civic stewardship rather than passive inheritance

And so, whether they came here on the Mayflower, on a slave ship, or on an airplane from Havana, we are all descendants of the men and women who built here the nation that saved the world.

– Marco Rubio   

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Jimmy Banakis is a life-long restaurateur.  He was an honorary batboy for the White Sox in 1964. He attended Oak Park River Forest High School, Nebraska Wesleyan University, and Chicago-Kent Law School.  He claims the kitchen is the room he’s most comfortable in anywhere in the world. He published an extremely limited-edition family cookbook. He’s a father and grandfather, and lives in Downers Grove Il.