Lejeune Dustin
 | |
| Era | The Nineties |
|---|---|
| Age | 20-30 |
| Home | Camp Lejeune, NC |
| Demographic | young white, rural South, enlisted |
| Lean | Lean Republican |
| Race | white |
| Successor | Fort Hood Cody |
A Marine lance corporal at Camp Lejeune, raised in south Georgia after the local mill closed, who enlisted in the shrinking but confident armed forces of the 1990s. He is reliably Republican on military matters and uncertain about anything involving money.
Who they stand for
The armed forces of the years after the Cold War recruited disproportionately from the rural South. The mills there had been the other main employer, and many closed because of NAFTA and cheaper imports. The recruiter was often the only visitor who offered a paying job and a way to leave town. The force Dustin joined was shrinking. Active strength fell by about a third after 1989 as the peace dividend was taken, and three rounds of base closures followed. The deployments that remained, to Somalia in 1993, Bosnia in 1995 and Kosovo in 1999, had no clear enemy or purpose that a Marine could easily describe to his family. Two events fixed his politics before he enlisted. The first was the Gulf War, whose hundred-hour ground campaign showed what the country could do. The second was the 1993 dispute over gay people serving in the military, which ended in the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.
Ozark Wayne was drafted and was never thanked for his service. Dustin volunteered, is proud of it, and expects to be thanked. His successors are Fort Hood Cody in the 2000s, who is vengeful, and Military Mike in the modern era, who is sober.
Playing to them
He supports a pay rise for the enlisted ranks, military force that is used decisively and brought to a conclusion, a commander-in-chief who visits the base and means what he says there, and plain respect for the South and the flag. He opposes a deployment that continues without a clear purpose, a reduction in the forces presented as a peace dividend, gun control of any kind, and any social reform of the services ordered from Washington. He continued to hold Clinton's draft deferment against him throughout Clinton's presidency. He is not a fiscal conservative. His mother's disability payment is the household's basic income. A president who wins him on defence and then cuts Social Security Disability Insurance or veterans' care loses him for the same reason he would lose Mingo County Crystal.
Winning him on the military costs little. Only Madison Steph objects to the spending, and only Castro Marty objects to the culture of the services. Repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell to win Marty loses Dustin outright. A Democrat holds him only by never appearing uncomfortable around people in uniform.
Where they live
The five states where Lejeune Dustin makes up the largest share of the electorate in the nineties:
- Alaska
- Kansas
- Nebraska
- South Carolina
- North Carolina
Lineage
Lejeune Dustin → Fort Hood Cody → Military Mike
Three patriotic men who served, Republican by habit. What changes is their mood. Dustin is a patriot of the post-Cold War era: America has won, it is the best country in the world and it polices the world, and he is proud and optimistic. Cody is a patriot of the post-9/11 era, and he wants revenge. Mike is a patriot of the post-war-on-terror era: he served in the Afghan occupation, saw how it went, and is sceptical, more lucid and less emotional than Cody. He has come to value NATO and the alliances. Optimistic, then vengeful, then sober.