liberty thesis ideas and advice sought!

[intheswim5]

Hey everyone. I looking for some assistance in developing my thesis topic.

I'm thinking a smart plan might be to base my thesis off of a dozen or so core books that i'm really interested in reading. Of course my thesis would have many more sources but my idea was to ensure I stayed motivated by starting with some really good interesting material.

As for a thesis idea, i'm really still open to ideas and am curious what my fellow Paul supporters would suggest.

What i'm thinking so far is too keep it broad so I could hit the best books on many different topics to show the world's decent into global governance/bigger government or something similar. Perhaps someone has some good idea on how to combine all these topic towards proving an interesting thesis. Below is a list of topics based of this reading list (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?129762-Books-for-Liberty) Once i've decided on an topic I guess I can research which books are best to start with for each topic. I could have sections/chapters of my thesis on:

1) bearing arms
2) economics & sound money/fed/finance and investing
3) education
4) gov abuse of power / surveillance society
5) health and food
6) individualism vs collectivism /
7) Mainstream Media
8) National Sovereignty / International organizations like United Nations, CFR etc..
9) War and foreign policy

I'm especially interested in the education topic and have done some work already in that direction so if I had to make my thesis more focused it is one section that I would definitely like to keep. I've read some of Gatto and Iserbyt already. :) Cheers!

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

[nayjevin]

I'm especially interested in the education topic and have done some work already in that direction so if I had to make my thesis more focused it is one section that I would definitely like to keep. I've read some of Gatto and Iserbyt already. :) Cheers!

This looks like it shows you have a direction in mind. Pursue it and see what comes up.

Some topics I've heard of in relation to Gatto: homeschooling, unschooling, the School Sucks Podcast, the Prussian education model, and Jefferson's view on public education.

I suggest take notes as you go, if you don't have a specific direction in mind, just whatever pops out. You may find it turns into an outline without any particular attempt to do so.

[intheswim5]

Thanks nayjevin, I'll def look into the topics you've listed. I'm curious though what all you creative liberty loving folks are interested in... If you had this thesis opportunity what would would you be thinking of writing on?

[mczerone]

What class is the thesis for? What level of schooling are you in?

In addition to following your interest (education system), I'd also try to meet with your teacher/professor to see if there are any issues that he/she is particularly interested in, and if he/she has any interest in libertarian theory. If your teacher/professor is hostile to liberty, you may want to write a more normative piece and leave out any explicit reference to the libertarian viewpoint.

[Travlyr]

Gold, Peace, and Prosperity by Ron Paul and A Cross of Gold by Edwin Vieira pretty much convince me that honest money is THE fundamental element for liberty. Without dealing honestly with each other, true liberty is impossible.

A thesis might be... Honest sound money is the key to liberty, peace, and prosperity and it can be achieved in our lifetime.

[intheswim5]

What class is the thesis for? What level of schooling are you in?

It's for an international relations masters, my profs are pretty relaxed so I have a lot of flexibility. I have to meet with them soon to present some ideas so I'm happy to see some responses already in this thread.
If one of my profs is hostile to liberty in anyway though I would definitely not compromise my work to suit them. Even if I got a lot of grief over it.

@ Travlyr Sound money is a great topic and i've definitely done a lot of research in that direction in the past. I guess i'm not too excited about pursuing it as the personal knowledge gained from it mostly just helps oneself with making smart personal financial decisions in the immediate sense.
Even though i'm still quite young to be thinking of raising children and even still more weary of bringing new life into such deteriorating times I find the education topic more interesting as I haven't read into it as much and I find it so incredible how drastically a child's entire life can change by their early education and rearing. Simply saying that everything starts in the beginning in a big way! :D

[Acala]

If it is international relations, I would write on the history of using deceit, staged events, and propaganda to drag people into war and cause them to surrender their freedom and treasure.

[IDefendThePlatform]

For international relations I'd be tempted by either:

1) Fallacy of "humanitarian' wars

2) Free trade
Good free trade books:
"The case for free trade and open immigration" By jacob Hornberger
"The race to the top" thomas larrson

3)The US Drug war's negative effects on Mexico, Columbia and other 3rd world countries


I took a "Substance Use and Abuse" class in college and wrote all of my papers about drug/marijuana legalization. The professor disagreed with everything I wrote but I still managed an A-. Best of luck to you

[Theocrat]

Perhaps you can do a thesis on the economic effects of foreign non-intervention on the U.S. GDP versus the economic effects of foreign intervention on the U.S. GDP.

[JohnEngland]

Since it's an International Relations course, you could investigate the extent to which global institutions are shaped by domestic policies and events that are multinational in nature, such as financial meltdowns.

You could argue from the perspective that the current institutional landscape is dominated by organisations that have a tendency towards centralising power structures. You could note the recent 2008 financial crisis as an example of a mistake of understanding the root causes of the problem, which has resulted in a justification for larger multinational agreements and global governmental regulations.

You could also use the issue of climate change as another example of the build up of global institutions that are shaped not by domestic policies (such as monetary issues) but by ideas and beliefs about data.

[TNforPaul45]

It's for an international relations masters, my profs are pretty relaxed so I have a lot of flexibility. I have to meet with them soon to present some ideas so I'm happy to see some responses already in this thread.
If one of my profs is hostile to liberty in anyway though I would definitely not compromise my work to suit them. Even if I got a lot of grief over it.

@ Travlyr Sound money is a great topic and i've definitely done a lot of research in that direction in the past. I guess i'm not too excited about pursuing it as the personal knowledge gained from it mostly just helps oneself with making smart personal financial decisions in the immediate sense.
Even though i'm still quite young to be thinking of raising children and even still more weary of bringing new life into such deteriorating times I find the education topic more interesting as I haven't read into it as much and I find it so incredible how drastically a child's entire life can change by their early education and rearing. Simply saying that everything starts in the beginning in a big way! :D

Hey InTheSwim,

For international relations, your best bet would be

2) economics & sound money/fed/finance and investing

Since EVERYTHING else is connected to economics, all the other topics you listed I mean, then you would be able to show implications of an Austrian-Economics-like economic policy for a country and it's impact on all other aspects of society.

Just a thought. Thanks!