President Joe Biden has a tremendous responsibility to uphold America’s core values and protect its interests. With recent events raising questions about our country’s future, it is more important than ever for our commander-in-chief to remind graduates of the United States Air Force Academy why we fight — unapologetically — for America first.

Biden will speak at the cadet graduation Thursday in Colorado Springs. We encourage him to tell these young new officers how much their lives and service matter to the goal of world prosperity and peace. We hope he assures them of a stable, fully funded military going forward under command of a president who values their lives.

Biden should remind them of the hundreds of thousands who have fought and died for this country. Their victories in preserving our way of life have led directly to a sharp decline in poverty, hunger and injustice at home and abroad.

The 2023 graduating cadets begin their careers at an unfortunate time in the United States. Throughout the country, faux intellectuals preach self-righteously that our country is a blight on the humanity. The academy retains integrity as anti-US, anti-military sentiment spreads throughout much of our entropic educational establishment. Consider:

• This year’s graduating class of the City University Of New York Law School chose and applauded a bigoted, anti-Semitic speaker who encouraged “the fight against capitalism, racism, imperialism and Zionism around the world.” Indeed, we must fight racism — an irrational, hateful bane antithetical to capitalism and other key components of freedom.

• Half of Colorado College graduates, just south of the academy, turned their backs on former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney as she gave Sunday’s graduation speech. They dislike that in Congress she guarded military budgets, blasted socialism, defended the First and Second Amendments, defended law enforcement and protected religious Americans from forced funding of abortions.

• The Colorado Education Association this year called on public schools, in writing, to “dismantle capitalism.” The CEA defended the resolution as reflecting “our members’ aspirations in our collective endeavor to create a safer and more equitable world.”

Our list could continue ad infinitum. Anti-American academicians in the K-college system far outnumber those who dare say America is noble and well worth defending. The Air Force, the country it defends and an economic system that provides for the world are under clear and present danger from enemies foreign and domestic.

President Biden, the highest-ranking commander of these new officers, will do the world a favor by telling graduates their dedication to this country is inherently virtuous. Tell them they defend the most benevolent, equitable, diverse, fair and just system the world has known.

Not all threats to our national defense are ideological. Some of the country’s most patriotic, pro-American leaders allow politics to jeopardize the Air Force. Former President Donald Trump indulged a political whim by deciding on his way out of office to move Space Command from Colorado Springs — within 20 minutes of the Academy — to an Army base 1,200 miles away and nearly 200 miles from the nearest major airport.

Space Command depends on the academy to produce the best and brightest aerospace scholars. One cannot overstate the symbiance between the academy and Space Command. Moving the command within months of full operational capacity would interrupt progress, embolden our enemies, waste money and jeopardize the sovereignty we ask these cadets to defend.

The people elected President Biden — over Trump — to make key decisions about national defense. Tell these graduates Space Command will stay right where it is. We can’t think of a better occasion to make this announcement.

A strong United States requires a strong Air Force. A strong Air Force maintains international stability and peacekeeping efforts worldwide. It ensures that rogue states or terrorist organizations do not rise to power and threaten global security. By defending our values, Air Force personnel encourage people everywhere to oppose oppression and improve their lives.

Air Force graduates, thank you for your dedication and service. President Biden, thank you for honoring them.

Only our best and brightest get into and graduate from the academy. Today, the real work begins. Tune out the anti-American noise and defend our country with pride. Know your service saves lives and makes the world safer and more peaceful for all of humankind.