One of the principal Constitutional responsibilities of the President is to take seriously his role as Commander in Chief in defending our country. While he has worked with Congress to pass new entitlements costing trillions that go beyond anything the Constitution authorizes, President Obama has now systematically worked to decrease the technological superiority of America’s military.

During the Cold War, American technological superiority was an integral part of ensuring victory. After President Carter’s conspicuous neglect, President Reagan launched a military buildup, particularly the development of weapons systems and concepts decades ahead of what the Soviet Union was capable of producing. He forced the Soviets to reform their economy in an attempt to catch up; that race helped bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union.

While the US still maintains this technological edge, the gap will soon be closing in some key areas—our next generation fighter jets and our nuclear weapon systems. In October 2009, President Obama signed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 killing the funding for F-22 fighter production. By ending funding for the F/A-22, the President and Congress have jeopardized the US’s ability to achieve and maintain air superiority.

China, a nation whose own imperialistic ambitions are well know, is rapidly buying and recapitalizing its air force with the next generation of fighter aircraft. In January of this year, Russia test flew their next-generation fighter, the T-50, which incorporates the latest stealth technology and weapons system. In fact, Russia is expanding its fighter forces more now than at any other time since the end of the Cold War. The Russians plan to field 300 Su-Fullback strike aircraft by 2022 and an additional 300 Sukhoi Pak fifth-generation fighters. Meanwhile, China has ordered an estimated 76 Su-30MKK Flanker-Gs and can produce an additional 250 under license, including at least 100 “knock-down kits” to be assembled in China. If China modernizes its 171 Su-27SK/UBs to the Su-27SKM standard and assembles another 105 Su-27SKMs under license, it will have roughly 626 multi-role fighters available for air superiority missions. This would place China in the same league as the U.S., which has 522 F-15A/B/C/Ds, 217 F-15Es, and a planned end strength of 186 F-22s.

Now, President Barack Obama has taken a stand for a new nuclear strategy. He has narrowed the circumstances in which the U.S. might launch a nuclear strike, and he has unilaterally stopped development of new nuclear warheads. He wants even deeper reductions in American and Russian arsenals. But the critical issue is his unilateral decision to stop development of new nuclear warheads without an agreement from Russia or China. This president is stopping the very advancement in military technology that will protect us for generations to come. Evil won’t stop in its development of weapons of destruction.

When at the Constitutional convention proposed limiting the U.S. standing army to 5,000 men, George Washington responded requesting a clause that would limit the size of the invading army to 3,000 troops. Laughter followed and the proposal was dropped. As Ronald Reagan told the Republican National Convention in Dallas in 1984: “There are some who’ve forgotten why we have a military. It’s not to promote war; it’s to be prepared for peace.”

Weakness is provocative. We must continue to invest in staying strong. Former Secretary of Defense Cap Wienberger put it best, "You don’t just go out to the store and buy high-tech weapons on the day you need them."

In a world with more rogue countries and terrorist groups capable of attacking our homeland or vital global interests, America, in order to defend its freedom and way of life, must invest adequate resource to remain strong, progressive, and technologically sophisticated. To maintain our world leadership role independent of UN control, we must continue to walk softly but continue to carry a big, technologically-advanced stick that is positioned to deal with new, smaller engagements wherever necessary. The new realities in a free world open to terrorism, investing in homeland security is a necessary and expensive priority we must fund.

If we do not change course and continue to fund the technological advantages that keep us ahead of our enemies, we will face increased American casualties in conflicts and a decrease in American influence abroad. This is but another reason to change course in November.