The Light at the End Nears

My final class of grad school--Constitutional Economics--is this term, so I'll walk in May.

Why this one? Utility maximizer that I am, it's simply my best available option. Of the evening classes offered this spring, this one seemed the most interesting and thought-provoking. I might have opted for Law & Economics if it were offered (depending on the syllabus), since I'm more policy oriented than philosophical.

The only thing between me and graduation is some assignments, a final, and a paper. Oh, and this gargantuan reading list. And yes, the 21 italicized items are books (and one of those is in three volumes). Apologies if you don't hear much from me for a while.

• James M. Buchanan, “Economics as a Public Science”
• Albert Hirschman, The Passions and the Interests
• Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, book 5
• Ludwig von Mises, Liberalism
• Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom
• Milton and Rose Friedman, Free to Choose
• F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom
• F.A. Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty
• F.A. Hayek, Law Legislation and Liberty (3 vols.)
• James M. Buchanan, The Logical Foundations of Constitutional Liberty (vol. 1 of Collected Works)
• James M. Buchanan & Gordon Tullock, The Calculus of Consent
• James M. Buchanan, The Limits of Liberty
• James M. Buchanan & Geoffrey Brennan, The Reason of Rules
• Vincent Ostrom, The Meaning of Democracy and the Vulnerabilities of Democracies
• Elinor Ostrom, Understanding Institutional Diversity
• Paul Aligica and Peter Boettke, Challenging Institutional Analysis and Development
• Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson, Economic Origins of Dictatorship and
Democracy
• Mancur Olson, “Dictatorship, Democracy and Development,” APSR, 1993
• Douglass North, John Wallis and Barry Weingast, Violence and Social Order
• Edward Stringham (ed.), Anarchy and the Law

Television

I've started to really dislike television. The whole concept, not just the programming. There are definitely shows I enjoy watching, and that's the problem.

It's just too easy to get sucked into episode after episode of "My Name is Earl" or "The Office" instead of doing more productive things, such as spending quality time with Liz and Beatrice, writing, working out, being involved with my community, or being in touch with family and friends.

After working all day and commuting back and forth from Fairfax to the District, I want the few hours that I have at home to count for something. When I look back on my week, I don't want to have to realize that I burned precious hours being a passive consumer of mass media.

There's just so much more to life.