Free Republic

The Pentagon yesterday announced plans to close 33 major military bases and realign 29 others in a force restructuring designed to consolidate forces and save money -- at least $49 billion over 20 years. Our current arrangements, designed for the Cold War, must give way to the new demands of the war against extremism and other evolving 21st-century challenges, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said in releasing the base closure list. Major proposed closures include the Navy submarine base at New London, Conn.; Fort McPherson, Ga.; Naval Air Station Atlanta, Ga.; Naval Shipyard at Portsmouth, Maine; Naval Air Station at...

One Sunday this past November, President Bush’s chief strategist Karl Rove went on the talk show circuit to discuss the possibility that 2004 would be depicted by historians as being a realigning election. A little over three months later, with the nation fixated on Social Security reform, his opinions seem remarkably prescient. According to Wikipedia: “[A realigning election is one] in which geographic bases of power for each of the two parties [are] significantly altered, resulting in a new political power structure and status quo. It is generally believed that a realigning election happens only after a shift in partisan...