Blogger, 24, Hoping To Use Site As Springboard Into Politics

FREDERICK, Md. (AP) -- Politics often came up around the dinner table when Brooke Winn was growing up.

No one in her family was elected to public office, she said, but everyone was interested.

The 24-year-old believes more young people should be interested and involved in politics, especially locally.

The point of her new blog, The Clustered Spires Conservative, is to get the conversation started, and to keep people updated on current political issues and laws, mostly at the local level.

"It's the government that's closest to the people," she said.

Winn, of Point of Rocks, calls herself "conservatarian," with a mix of conservative and libertarian beliefs.

"At the end of the day, people have the right to do what they want, as long as they aren't infringing on other people's rights or taking government money," she said.

In a few years, she plans to run for local office, whether it's at the county or state level, she said. She's using the blog as a way to introduce herself.

Winn is one of those people who is going places, said Hayden Duke, president of the Western Maryland Young Republicans and a friend of Winn's. They met when she joined the young Republicans about three or four years ago, he said.

"She is going to do great things," he said. "She has a passion that you don't see very often."

Winn was born and raised in Frederick County. After graduating from Walkersville High School, she went to the College of Charleston in South Carolina and graduated in 2012 with a degree in political science in history.

Her plan was to go to law school, but instead she got an internship on Capitol Hill, doing legal research for then-U.S. Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.). She now works for the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit.

She and her husband, Josh, bought a house and plan to settle down in the county, she said.

Josh Winn said he and Brooke have the same political beliefs, and their talks often inspire her blog posts.

He said he couldn't be more excited for her to run for office, since she wouldn't be in it to become a "career politician" as many are now.

"Brooke is a lifelong resident of Frederick County and truly cares about the community and working hard to make it a better place to live and work," he said.

After starting her blog in January, Winn has written nine posts so far, stating her thoughts on why the legal drinking age should be lowered to age 18, how minimum-wage laws hurt the poor, and why people should get fired up about handgun laws in Maryland.

Duke said he appreciates how intelligent and well-researched her blog posts are.

Not everyone is in agreement with her posts, though. Winn said she got a lot of interesting feedback after posting about Frederick County Board of Education's request for a larger budget.

"FCPS and Maryland state leaders should hold our schools to higher standards by implementing greater accountability measures in the classrooms before doling out raises to every single teacher," she wrote.

One person wrote in the comments that she should consider how teachers in Frederick County are paid less than those in other parts of the state.

Winn said she likes hearing feedback, positive and negative.

This is something that Duke said he thinks is great about the blog.

"A lot of times what we are missing in politics is an intellectual discourse," he said.

(Copyright 2015 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)