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That was just what started it, by the way. I could spend a very long time explaining all the things I observed after that which caused me to reject libertarianism.

"you don't have to be part of the Austrian School to be a Libertarian"
True, and I've made that point in the past. However, the reason why I was a libertarian was because I thought being so would be the best from a public policy perspective, and I was basing that belief on the Austrian school.

To clarify, I did not abandon the Austrian school because it was heterodox; it was just the fact that it was heterodox which caused me to be more inquisitive and impartial when looking at the evidence.

I can tell you how I first became a libertarian and why I later abandoned libertarianism.

Basically pre-libertarian, I was left wing on virtually every issue. I had heard of libertarianism but I didn't really know what it was; there were a lot of political philosophies out there so I couldn't research them all. The people with whom I had the most disagreements were the Rightwing conservatives. I would read Conservapedia and get very frustrated.

I became a libertarian after I took economics at high school, which was a subject I previously knew nothing about. I learnt about the positive effects of market forces like the benefits of trade and other things which I hadn't considered before. I had actually read about things like that on conservative websites. I was tempted to convert to conservativism, but I couldn't do it because I still disagreed with them on social issues. I did wonder if there was a political philosophy which was liberal on social issues and conservative on economic issues, and it didn't take long for me to discover libertarianism. I actually became quite a vocal libertarian at school after that. I also gained a keen interest in economics and I would do more research on the topic on the Internet, although I would always do my research through the lens of libertarianism.

I can pinpoint the exact thing which caused me to start doubting libertarianism: It was firstly when I discovered that the Austrian school of economics was a heterodox school of economics, and later when I found out that the Keynesian school of economics was the dominant school of macroeconomic thought. I guess this is why I always bring this fact up. I knew about the various schools of economics but I didn't really consider which one was the mainstream; I guess I was under the impression that they were all considered serious competitors. Being a libertarian, I was obviously tempted by the Austrian school. I should have been more critical of my beliefs. It took the fact that it was outside of the mainstream to cause me to really be skeptical about the issue. I actually learnt quite a valuable lesson then and I appreciate the importance of skepticism more now than I did then.

Although I abandoned libertarianism, I did not return to the political views I held before I became a libertarian. Most of my friends will tell you that I am a right wing conservative, but really I reject any label (and I don't think it's really true anyway). I think it's best to look at each issue on a case by case basis. My friends tend to be left wing, so them calling me a conservative tells me that I'm probably a moderate of some kind.

Hi Goaticus

I think you are not making the distinction between Old and New Keynesian economics. The criticisms you have brought up are valid criticisms of Old Keynesian economics and it is for these reasons (particularly the 1970s stagflation) that Old Keynesian economics is rejected by mainstream economists.

@evensgrey I fully agree that the best way to learn independently is to do problems; I have done that myself. MIT's opencourseware is an excellent repository of problems for a lot of classes. You should also look up MITx; it's still in its infancy but it sounds extremely promising. It's a service that I've always wanted to exist; I can't wait until it becomes well established.