Could use some advice

Miscellaneous General
1

I hesitate to dump my personal problems all over this forum, but I feel like I could get some great advice here. I rarely post but I do lurk and I think this discussion can generate some creative ideas for people who might be in a similar situation. I’ll try to keep this short

I entered a Master’s program in August of 2006, in agricultural and applied economics. At that time I had zero knowledge about Austrian economics or libertarianism. As my knowledge of these topics increased, my desire to remain in this program decreased. But, since I already invested a considerable amount of time and money into the program, I decided to stay. I think the only way I got through my coursework was by way of my love of mathematics since most of my courses were quantitative.

Yes, it is 2009. I haven’t touched my thesis for months, primarily because I’m in a funk. I’m stuck with a topic I don’t like in a degree program I now realize is a joke. All I have to do is edit and defend my thesis but I’m just stuck. So I already have a BA in economics and I might get an MS in agricultural and applied economics. I feel like I’ve wasted so much time and money. I don’t have a career and it seems like the degree program I’m is preparation for a government job, which I don’t want because I’d feel like a hypocrite. I don’t know what to do.

Paul

2

Move to New Hampshire. Get a government job. Up to you.

I am kind of in the same situation. I have a B.A. in History. Pretty much one of the most worthless degrees one could get. I am going to apply for a government job soon. In a few years, I hope to be able quit and move to New Hampshire. Or maybe my wife will write a top selling book or my kid will become famous and make a lot of money.

3

Seems like you can do alot of good with the right knowledge working in the public sector. It may be somewhat hippocritical if your an anarchist but there is nothing wrong with being a positive influence on those around you. Ron Paul does it. Mises did it as well didn’t he?

4

I’ve gone through something similar. Not school + government career, but the conflict every libertarian runs into when they realize that certain behaviours are no longer rational with a changed conception of the state.

You need to knuckle down and finish what you started. As you said, you have made a big investment in this, and the credentials will open doors for you, not just with government, but in the private sector.

Worry about the finding a non-government job afterwards. Stay focused on the task before you.

Complete your education.

5

Why not a qualitative thesis with an Austrian bent? If you are real bold then you could eliminate the math and prove or disprove your thesis using economic logic. If you wanted to go hog wild then do the qualitative thesis and at the end either uphold it on the basis of economic logic or destroy it. Unfortunately it depends on how open minded the professors are and how much they dislike Austrian Economics.

6

I did consider changing my thesis to something with an Austrian theme, but the professors are hostile to that sort of thing. I quickly learned that in my macro class where I dared to question the professor and was punished with a C- for the course. I felt like I was the most inquisitive guy there. I actually wanted to be there and asked tons of questions while everyone else just told him what he wanted to hear. He could have failed me, I suppose. Maybe I was just bad and didn’t know it.

I don’t know. All of these realizations came on so quickly. I was extremely depressed for a while though I am somewhat better now. It’s like I wasted my life. What did I go to school for all these years? I’m working a menial job, can’t find anything better. I should have learned a skill or a profession. I still want to but I no longer have the means (thinking about acturial work but I read it takes a decade to pass all of the exams). I am just so incredibly lost right now.

I do have the desire to finish buried somehwere deep within me. So I could walk away with something, even though that something is basically worthless. It’s going to be hard though because I no longer have respect for the work I’ve completed. I could add in a section about how it’s all a load of nonsense. I doubt that will go over well but it would make me feel a bit better.

Sorry for the whine-fest. But talking about this with like-minded people helps. None of my friends ever want to talk politics, economics or philosophy. They don’t care and made it clear on more than one occsaion.

7

Been there. But here is the deal. You have a lot of life left. What are you going to make of it?

It is not worthless. It is the sum of your effort and energy. It is your field of specialization. To be honest, it sounds like you’re making excuses. If you want to fail, it is easy to do. Anyone can fail.

I’d like to see you succeed at whatever you do. Even if it is getting a government job, and making handsome donations to LvMI or sponsoring a Mises Circle in your area, or leading a reading group, or posting to a blog about your insights into government and your industry.

You are a valuable person with a lot of potential. The hardest part of becoming a libertarian (and I suspect anarchist) is that you have to let go of your past and start focusing on your future.

8

You know what is great about education, it never ceases. Ok so you discovered something about yourself, discovered something new that has changed your outlook. The question is ‘what can I do with what I have?’ Are you going to do more graduate work such as your PhD?

9

Paul, this interview

Starting at around the 5:50 mark. Very pertinent around 8:15.

10

I will clear up one misconception and give my advice. First of all you might have thought you were going to university for an education, you weren’t, you were going for the degree. If you got and education as well congrats. My advice is tote the party line and finish your original thesis with edits. This an issue of survival not of ethics. I came to the same crossroads you are at now, and I decided I would take the states money and use it any way I could to destroy the state, donate to ron paul, donate to mises.org, etc.

11

This

12

Try approaching it from the POV of a skeptic, & not an advocate, if you’re going for an Austrian or non-mainstream bent. Do not totally invalidate the previous work you did while you were less libetarian, but not extend the work you no longer believe in, either.

You might have to go through several drafts to get the tnoe just right, but it’s very doable. I myself have done this, in my free time, on some responses I did in history classes a few years ago.

What you are discussing seems to be to include a problem of English, and not just simply ideology (but that is a major part of it, obviously).

I fully believe if you modified the use of certain words, avoided others (Austrian, anarchism, mention libertarianism sparingly, etc.), while concentrating on key concepts (like questioning coercion without advocating terms like libertarianism, or questioning the validity of current concepts on the basis of limited information, etc.), your paper will not be automatically rejected.

Modesty will go a long way; even if you disagree with your previous views on the work on your thesis, & others that might get more favorable grading, merely giving acknowledgment to them & questioning them in a concise & modest manner will go a long way, I think.

However, this advice is a bit general, & it would be easier for others to offer help if you told us what your thesis is. Do you mind if i ask what it is, then?

I would advise, if you can, starting an anonymous blog somewhere (i’m assuming that other students & and the professor are capable of seeing your online presence) & making the revision of your thesis into a mini-project.

A cheap free account @ Blogger will already put you in the same domain as other bloggers with similar libertarian interests, & you might be able to get some advice & feedback to make the entire process less of a chore & more of a fun intellectual exercise.

A little promotion might help, & getting it mentioned on other blogs would help attract attention, assuming of course you are okay with maintaining a web presence surrounding your thesis (I don’t recall if this is against any rules of some sort).

13

Here Catalyst, I think this will help you get some bearing.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/podcast/?p=episode&name=2009-08-31_136_making_a_difference_in_the_world.mp3

14

Paul:

I am in a similar situation. I am a criminal justice major who became a libertarian towards the end of my first year and then really began to learn about Austrian economics. I’m now a junior in college. I am just trying to make the best of the situation as I plan to attend law school and I felt that this degree would give me the best possible undergraduate exposure to law (which in a sense, it has). With the state of affairs as is in the US I am just hoping that I can help use the law degree to defend people against the State, educate people (become a professor of law), and/or get a good paying job as an attorney preferably for a multinational which could potentially broaden my horizons in another country.

All the other posts have given sound advice in my opinion. Just go with the flow and use what you have. As von Mises says when he talks about incovertible capital goods, the entrepreneur will to try to make use of them to the best of his abilities. If you have to compromise on your thesis just do it and get your degree. You can always go back and teach with a higher degree such as a Masters, and then you can be a professor of economics that teaches from the Austrian perspective. You can also possibly work for some big agricultural companies. Agriculture is going to be an excellent place to be in the future in terms of wealth. Though I admittedly am not familiar with what type of studies your degree entails, it sounds to me like it could land you a nice position at an agricultural company. Don’t get discouraged, you’ll work everything our.

Best regards,

Chris

15

Hey all,

Thanks for continuing to respond. The youtube video and podcast from lewrockwell.com brightened my day a bit. After some thought I’ve decided to just finish this thesis. I toyed with the idea of altering it a bit, as was suggested above, but at this point I don’t want to prolong my time here. I’m already a year late. The thesis is very simple economically anyway. The meat of this project is disease modeling between wildlife and livestock with average costs of outbreaks under various conditions tacked on as the economics part. I happened to get in on this project when epidemiological modeling in wildlife and livestock was all the rage (here, anyway). At the time it was the most interesting project being worked on by our department, so I decided to go for it. God, how I’m regretting that choice. This would probably be easier if I weren’t so horribly unhappy about this entire mess. Though I have to admit that I do get a chuckle out of this situation from time to time. How at 28, after 6 years of higher education, and marginal job after marginal job, I’ve ended up in yet another marginal job (not even full-time, surprise!). I expect too much, LOL.

16

When I finally started to come out of my anarcho-capitalist birth malaise, I spent a couple weeks laughing at myself. I would literally stop in front of mirrors and laugh at what an idiot I have been.

It’s part of the healing.

17

Well I kind of get the feeling I’m going to be punishing myself for a while after squandering so much time.

Paul