John Brush, Middletown’s new conservative blogger, doesn’t bring to mind stereotypes of Bud-drinking, pickup-driving, gun-wielding, liberal-hating red-staters. In fact, decked out in hiking boots, brown corduroys, big glasses, and a broad gray beard that is tied together at the bottom, the founder of the blog “Right of Middle” looks like he’d fit in better at a hippie commune than an NRA convention.

In a conversation at Klekolo World Coffee downtown, the soft-spoken Brush outlined his skepticism of pervasive global warming fears, explained his opinions on the University, and affirmed his friendship with the outspoken Martin Benjamin ’57, a persistent critic of President Douglas Bennet and post-1960s Wesleyan.

“The biggest problem I have with people on the left is their belief that the government, the nanny state, can solve all problems,” Brush said. “They base things on emotions and feeling good rather than hard facts. It’s emotionalism rather than cerebralism.”

Brush characterizes himself as a political conservative and a social libertarian—with a few notable exceptions.

“I’m not libertarian as far as the war on terror or the Patriot Act,” he said. “Issues such as wiretapping were totally overblown on the left as a threat to privacy.”

In general, Brush, who sees himself as a free-thinking rightist amongst a leftist majority, laments a culture he sees as ridden by liberal manipulation.

“The mainstream media is totally invested in Democratic victory,” he said. “So there’s a lot of misinformation flying out there on the left. It has to do with the mindset of the journalism schools. They’re very liberal, and a lot of the journalists today were around in the 60s.”

But the manipulation goes further than American politics, according to Brush. Media and government driven hysteria over global warming, he said, is an attempt to unite a fearful world behind a socialist UN regime.

“Global warming is very politicized,” he said. “It provides a way of marshaling the people who were on the anti-war and socialist left and makes a way to form an international government with a socialist agenda. It’s the hysterical voices of gloom and doom.”

Despite his global concerns, Brush devotes much of his time to thinking and posting about the University. As a hobby, he often comes to Olin library and files through old issues of the Argus. About half the posts on “Right of Middle,” which he created only a month ago, have to do with campus goings-on.

Much of the time, it seems, he highlights the most ridiculous aspects of student life. His first post ever on the blog, for example, included an excerpt from the Argus article on the February Sex Workers show on campus.

“This Wednesday night,” he quoted, “a rowdy group of students packed the Campus Center’s Multi-Purpose Room to watch naked women twirl tassels from their nipples.”

When written about in the Argus, such material may seem ho-hum, but when it’s framed in the context of Brush’s blog, it seems truly wacky, if not out-of-line.

In a blog post dated March 6, Brush commented on the University’s Incite Magazine.

“It is titled Incite Magazine, not to be confused with Insight, a conservative publication,” he wrote. “Idealistic, leftist platitudes! Anyway, I urge my readers to check it out, as the saying goes.”

Over coffee, he clarified.

“The magazine didn’t point to anything in particular, just a general leftist viewpoint,” he said.

More often than not, Brush will link to Wesleying, the popular student blog, and comment on its content. When Holly Wood ’08, co-creator of Wesleying, ran a responsive post that profiled Right of Middle, Brush was happy to welcome the new attention.

“Holly linking is good because I get a lot more readers,” he said. “I like Wesleying. It’s interesting.”

Brush mused over local “new media”— something both his blog and Wesleying have come to represent.

“I’m playing an essentially political role,” he said. “I’m trying to get a conservative point out here in a very blue state, a very liberal college community, and a very liberal town.”

That is not to say this blogger is entirely ready for the total transition to internet media.

“I always loved newspapers,” he said. “It’s been hard for me to get used to the idea of a world without them. But I don’t even buy the paper anymore.”

In general, Brush sees his internet ventures as a means of fostering a network of like-minded conservative thinkers in the Middletown area.

There is one individual Brush already knows he can count on: Martin Benjamin ’57, an alumnus who regularly writes Wespeaks lamenting the decline of “Old Wesleyan” and the ascendancy of “PCU.” According to Brush, Benjamin happily assumes his critical role.

“I enjoy seeing that Martin Benjamin is noticed, and I think he enjoys being able to comment on the Wesleyan scene rather anonymously,” Brush said. “People at Wesleyan know his name, but they don’t really know him. He enjoys being the elder statesman of the Wesleyan scene.”

So, if you’re a bit conservative and feeling stranded, or if you would just like to hear a conservative view for a change, log-on to:

middletown.ctlocalpolitics.net.