work for government?

walter block — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 05:53:13 GMT

From: Walter Block
Sent: Thu 1/7/2010 10:26 PM
To: Eric Shear
Subject: RE: dilemma

Dear Eric:

My advice to you is to pursue your career, and forget about all the considerations you mention below. I used to teach at a state school, I use public roads, mail letters in the US post office, carry around fiat currency, deal with statist banks, and will gladly accept Social Security payments in a year or so. I don't think libertarianism requires self abnegation. Of course, there are certain things you may not do as a libertarian: arrest people for victimless crimes as a policeman, bomb innocents abroad as a soldier, etc. (Even here things get a bit complicated, in my view.) But working for NASA is hardly in that league.

I have written a bit about this:

Block, Walter. 2002. “Accepting Government Subsidies,” Fraser Forum, February, p. 27; http://oldfraser.lexi.net/publications/forum/2002/02/section_13.html

Block, Walter. 2004. “Radical Libertarianism: Applying Libertarian Principles to Dealing with the Unjust Government, Part I” Reason Papers, Vol. 27, Fall, pp. 117-133; http://www.walterblock.com/publications/block_radical-libertarianism-rp.pdf

Block, Walter. 2006. “Radical Libertarianism: Applying Libertarian Principles to Dealing with the Unjust Government, Part II” Reason Papers, Vol. 28, Spring, pp. 85-109; http://www.walterblock.com/publications/block_radical-libertarianism-rp.pdf; http://www.walterblock.com/wp-content/uploads/publications/block_radical-libertarianism-rp.pdf; (death penalty justified, net taxpayer, ruling class analysis p. 87)

Block, Walter. 2007. “Ron Paul and Matching Funds,” October 1;

http://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block86.html

Block, Walter. 2008. “Replies to readers” September 23;

http://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block108.html (libertarians hypocrites for using public school?)

Block, Walter. 2009A. “Libertarian punishment theory: working for, and donating to, the state” Libertarian Papers, Vol. 1; http://libertarianpapers.org/2009/17-libertarian-punishment-theory-working-for-and-donating-to-the-state/

Block, Walter. 2009B. "Toward a Libertarian Theory of Guilt and Punishment for the Crime of Statism" in Hulsmann, Jorg Guido and Stephan Kinsella, eds., Property, Freedom and Society: Essays in Honor of Hans-Hermann Hoppe, Auburn, AL: Ludwig von Mises Institute, pp. 137-148; http://mises.org/books/hulsmann-kinsella_property-freedom-society-2009.pdf

Block, Walter. Forthcoming A. "Toward a Libertarian Theory of Guilt and Punishment for the Crime of Statism" Journal of Libertarian Studies

Block, Walter. Forthcoming B. “Hoppe, Kinsella and Rothbard II on Immigration: A Critique.” Journal of Libertarian Studies

Block, Walter. Unpublished. “Libertarianism, punishment and statism”

Block, Walter and Chris Arakaky. 2008. “Taking Government Money for Grad School?,” May 23; http://www.lewrockwell.com/block/block100.html

Block, Walter and William Barnett II. 2008. “Continuums” Journal Etica e Politica / Ethics & Politics, Vol. 1, pp. 151-166 June; http://www2.units.it/~etica/; http://www2.units.it/~etica/2008_1/BLOCKBARNETT.pdf

D’Amico, Dan and Walter Block. 2007. “A Legal and Economic Analysis of Graffiti” Humanomics Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 29-38; http://www.mises.org/journals/scholar/damico.pdf; http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContainer.do?containerType=Issue&containerId=24713

Best regards,

Walter

Walter E. Block, Ph.D.
Harold E. Wirth Endowed Chair and Prof. of Economics
College of Business
Loyola University New Orleans
6363 St. Charles Ave., Box 15
New Orleans, LA 70118
tel: (504)864-7934
fax: (504)864-7970
wblock@loyno.edu

From: Eric Shear [mailto:renegade.omega@gmail.com]
Sent: Thu 1/7/2010 2:13 PM
To: wblock@loyno.edu
Subject: dilemma

Hello, my name is Eric.

I have been reading LewRockwell.com for 5 years now, especially your articles. I have always found them thoughtful and informative, so I thought I'd ask for your help with a dilemma that I find hard to resolve. I am a libertarian who abhors everything the US government has been doing, especially its overseas military adventures. However, I am an engineering student who is studying for a career in the aerospace sector. As you probably know, that sector is heavily dominated by the companies which have been doing business with the US government. It will be difficult to avoid them when the time comes for my first job out of college. There are still other companies, of course, but if they decide not to hire me, I will be forced to check the above-mentioned companies out. To make matters worse, it seems that the US dominates the world's list of aerospace-related companies.

I have a longstanding interest in space exploration. I would rather design space probes than the next-generation bomber. In fact, I am participating in a NASA scholarship program related to that very thing. But if that is not possible once I graduate, will I have to hold my nose and get in bed with the organizations I hate most, or are there alternatives?

Thank you.

-Eric
PS: You can post this on LewRockwell.com. I'd like to know what other people think.

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work for government?