America's headlong confrontation with Iran has stripped Patriot missile defenses in Europe down to a "beyond critical" level, exposing how even a strong executive can squander finite American resources on distant fights that serve no vital interest. This depletion leaves the homeland more exposed while draining stockpiles built for real deterrence, not perpetual Middle East policing. Such adventures mock the constitutional design of a federal government with sharply limited war powers and no authority to commit the nation to endless foreign obligations without clear congressional consent. The Founders built a republic to secure liberty at home through restrained power, not to subsidize global crusades that invite exhaustion and weakness. Reasserting that original restraint is the only path back to genuine strength.