3dender

If it's compatible, Macbooks are worth the premium (not Pro, I agree you don't need that).  They require hardly any maintenance and a few years down the road are still running 90% as fast as when new.  I've never met a PC I can say the same about -- and that's before even taking into account all the countless hours you will spend running virus/malware scans.  
I don't like Apple snobbery but their machines are simply better and it's not particularly close.

You need to get a divorce.  Now.  You didn't mention kids which makes it even more of a no-brainer.  Any avowed Nazi in 2017 is essentially a psychopath.  Get out, and tell everyone you (and he) know how big of a Nazi your ex is.
Make Nazis/fascists/racists/sexists afraid again.

It seems like the best fit for you would be the 1-year "Executive" programs (mostly MPAs I think), which are designed for exactly your circumstances: mid-career professionals who want to further their expertise in the field.  I know Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School is one of the best for this.  I'm not sure if SIPA or Wagner have 1-year programs (I seem to remember that Wagner does), but in your shoes I definitely wouldn't choose a program of more than 1 year, both for time and money reasons.  There are other great schools for Int'l Relations in the DC area: Johns-Hopkins, Georgetown, etc., but I'm not sure if they have executive degrees.
I think with your significant experience in the field, you'll make a solid candidate despite a low-ish GPA. Just make sure you get in the 160 range on the GRE and write a compelling SOP.  I'm an older candidate with a 3.36 GPA and years of education experience, and I got into all the programs I applied to (Chicago, Duke and Berkeley being the top ones).

I definitely think it's a good idea in your shoes to aim for shorter programs, for both time and cost. There are also plenty of accelerated MPA programs that aren't even mid-career/executive (UK, UC-Denver jump to mind).

Basically, whenever I look at the most serious issues -- environment, education, healthcare, poverty, unnecessary war, mass incarceration, etc. -- I notice that in large part the political will is never there to fix them.  The reason the political will isn't there is that politicians know who butters their bread (and it's not their constituents). Until that changes, I don't believe anything else will.  So by my logic, getting money out of politics is the single most crucial issue of them all, the first domino if you will.  Figuring out how to do that and working toward it will make for constructive and fulfilling work.
But yes as a tangential concern I'm very interested in voter suppression and gerrymandering, and I'm particularly interested in the work they're doing at POLIS. I saw that course you're talking about, and will take it if at all possible. I guess you could say my primary interest is democracy-boosting.  

I've lived in CH for about 15 years.  It's a college town, and dress is informal except for special occasions (either personal or business).  Also, being a large University, there are all types of people from all types of places, and all types of dress, so don't worry about fitting in.  I also wouldn't stress too much about shopping before you get here -- there's a good outlet mall in Mebane, 20ish min. away, where you can get great deals on name brand stuff, from Gap to Saks 5th Ave.
Depending on your sensitivity you may have trouble adjusting to the summer humidity, but it's manageable and I can't think of any warm-weather clothing you need that you probably don't have.  Oh, and you'll probably want at least one umbrella or rain jacket 

I would chime in here and say that rather than thinking that the policy programs are not as competitive as you think, the people here at Grad Cafe—especially the people engaging a lot, asking lots of questions, and/or answering questions—are much more prepared than most other applicants for the challenge of gaining admission. Lots of people apply to graduate school, and especially policy school, with a "Let me throw my hat in the ring and just see if I'll get in" approach, and don't end up putting their best candidacy forward. The GradCafe'rs approach the application process with more intention, organization, and knowledge of the process and why they are going to grad school. Basically two sides of the same coin but from a slightly different perspective. Breathe, everyone! If you put your best effort forward (and get quality information from the schools and people you trust on here or elsewhere), you will end up exactly where you belong.

I recommend working for longer than a year or two before applying not because the work experience will impress an admissions committee, but rather because it helps you pick a career.
You may have an idea of what'd you like to focus on in an MPP program, but actually working in a field—in terms of the actual work, quality of life, security, and so on—is very different from studying it. You grad school experience will be much more rewarding and secure if you can really focus on an area you have prior experience in, which lets you not only focus your studies but also network more successfully. 

I agree with this and would emphasize that it was difficult to detect any passion in your post.  You say you want to be a professor but you don't say why, and you don't have any idea what field you would want to do it in.  It's hard to imagine how it would be possible to achieve your goal without feeling passion for the field you next stumble onto.
In your shoes I would spend a lot of time reflecting on what subject I'm actually passionate about, and to what I'd like to dedicate my life's work.  I speak from experience as I am currently transitioning from an unchallenging career into a field that not only fascinates me, but one that I believe will be extremely fulfilling as well.

You may not get many bites on your question because there's a really long thread devoted to this issue -- it may answer your questions if you read it first.
This one: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/23492-the-am-i-competitive-thread-read-me-before-posting/?page=37
 

If it's compatible, Macbooks are worth the premium (not Pro, I agree you don't need that).  They require hardly any maintenance and a few years down the road are still running 90% as fast as when new.  I've never met a PC I can say the same about -- and that's before even taking into account all the countless hours you will spend running virus/malware scans.  
I don't like Apple snobbery but their machines are simply better and it's not particularly close.

I'm headed to HKS because I'm hoping to gain some insight into the evolution of the market economy in the early colonies. My contention is that prior to the Revolutionary War, the economic modalities, especially of the southern colonies, could most aptly be characterized as agrarian pre-capitalist and...

Really enjoyed Hanauer's Ted Talk, thanks, @3dender ! It's interesting to think about what progressive populism looked like then, and how populism has been so linked with the current Trump administration. 
Unions are absolutely a piece of the puzzle, and there is a definite correlation between broader prosperity and broader union engagement. Having spent a little time on political campaigns, I'm a little gun-shy with them, however. In my experience, their leadership tends to be far more political, and a bit out of touch with membership. Living in PA right now, we're going through our own right-to-work fight in the state leg, which has been fascinating given the Commonwealth's rich labor history. I'd be interested to see a movement on the left to put the right to organize in the Civil Rights Act -- it'll probably never happen, but playing defense against right to work seems like a path to a very slow death unless broader perceptions on unions in society begin to change. 
That all said, it feels more like a political fight than a policy one (not that I have problems with the former!). 

First, let's work on the reading comprehension. The most innovation does not necessarily represent significant progress, simply more than the federal government (which is where many of my colleagues interested in policy tend to want to end up). Second, let's work on building an actual argument beyond the ad hominem attacks. Snark on the internet is fun but is pretty vacuous in a conversation about policy and our shared field. Third, read Gordon's Rise and Fall of American Growth for a clear definition of the third industrial revolution, which while it includes the digital revolution, is not limited to it -- I did come from the private sector after all
But hey! I'm glad you think I have good intentions. Just know it's not reciprocated.  

Anthropology, religion and philosophy are the three major fields that jump to mind.  With so much work done in Sociology you're probably closest to an Anth degree.  Looking for joint programs among those three fields for your graduate degree would probably be where to aim.

i wasn't really going to say anything, but then... bang!
'think state government and action-oriented think tanks are where most innovation will take place in the next decade-plus' --
* holy smokes.... the naivety is extreme
"third-industrial-revolution economy"
* government ppl... it's call the computer revolution or something like that
---
but at least they start off with good intentions... isn't that how it always is... until we (as a society) lose them to politics or w/e other nonsense.... sigh :/
 
 

Agreed, but I'd hesitate to say the politics of fear have been monopolized by a single party or political faction. 
The various government innovation programs, especially the ones focusing on applications of behavioral economics, seem very interesting, but I doubt I'll pick one of the pre-packaged concentrations. There are two overarching policy questions I'm interested in: 1) How can we democratize economic power? (Sub-problems include the oligopolization/monopolization of a variety of sectors, the decline in entrepreneurship, impact of automation, AI etc.) 2) How can we make government more effective at a lower cost? (Given the impact of long-term debt on budgeting, we are eventually going to have to refashion government for the 21st century, designing a system that embeds information connectivity into its DNA as opposed to building an interagency task force on top of the existing architecture. What does that look like? How do we do more with less?). 
Eventually I'll settle on some hyper-specific topic to dive into (I have a few contenders in mind), but for now, those are the big-picture issues I care about. 

You may not get many bites on your question because there's a really long thread devoted to this issue -- it may answer your questions if you read it first.
This one: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/23492-the-am-i-competitive-thread-read-me-before-posting/?page=37
 

If it's compatible, Macbooks are worth the premium (not Pro, I agree you don't need that).  They require hardly any maintenance and a few years down the road are still running 90% as fast as when new.  I've never met a PC I can say the same about -- and that's before even taking into account all the countless hours you will spend running virus/malware scans.  
I don't like Apple snobbery but their machines are simply better and it's not particularly close.

You should make the decision based on your interests and not on how easy the grades will be.  It sounds like you may be leaning psychology despite being less interested in it, but decisions like that often don't pay off in the long run (mostly in terms of mental health).  If your grades suffer in the joint program you can always get some field experience to bolster your PhD app.

Yeah, the logic of reducing money's role in politics as a necessary first step towards solving broader concerns has always made sense to me, but on some level I think the broader challenge, especially with the environment, is attempting to effect policies with concentrated losses and distributed gains. Any policy solution with very clear losers and vague winners will be difficult to advance in the American political system. 
Interestingly, the problems of mass incarceration, poverty, and unnecessary war have concentrated costs (among minority and military communities, predominantly, the latter being limited to an increasingly small, Southern and Midwestern profile), but the challenges are faced among groups disenfranchised by the money-in-politics system. Is there a cause and effect here? I don't know; it seems to me that policy solutions in these categories have received sufficient attention, but are consistently framed in ways that are susceptible to fear-based efforts -- Willie Horton in the first Bush campaign, "class warfare" and a zero-sum economy where someone winning necessarily means someone else losing, the War in Iraq and WMDs come to mind. 
Still, taking money out of politics can only help advance progressive-populist causes. 

You should make the decision based on your interests and not on how easy the grades will be.  It sounds like you may be leaning psychology despite being less interested in it, but decisions like that often don't pay off in the long run (mostly in terms of mental health).  If your grades suffer in the joint program you can always get some field experience to bolster your PhD app.

You're not alone, I too am finishing my first year in my program and have realized I'm not in love with my program or its location.  Since you can't transfer in grad school the way you can in undergrad and for me personally dropping out and reapplying isn't an option I'm going to stick it out and make the most of it.  This is going to take just as much effort as it did to get into a program in the first place, but since I'm determined to have the career I want then its what I'll do.  
In terms of quality of life I am literally forcing myself out of the house and into the community to do something every week whether I feel like it or not.  Yes I do mean don't spend all of your time on campus or with people from your department/lab.  There's nothing wrong with them, but you don't want to get labeled as a downer that no one wants to be around or work with.  
In the community free events, site seeing, meetups, and short term volunteer opportunities are great places to start.  I've attended plenty of things that I wasn't totally interested in or had no idea what they were and usually had a decent time or at least learned something.  I also ask the locals what I should see and do while I'm here and add those things to my list.  I will only be here for a few years, but when I leave I can truly say I experienced being here even if I didn't love it.  If you're able to get out of town on the occasional weekend, during school breaks, or for a training opportunity somewhere else then do it.  A change of scenery can refresh your batteries in many ways.  Engaging in self care is also very important.  Whatever your thing is....exercise, meditation, cooking, a hot bath, etc. it needs to be done regularly so that you have some balance.

No that reason is because on some level they accurately describe reality.  If you disagree with the above depiction, YOU offer an alternative, and I'LL decide whether I agree with it or not (spoiler: I probably won't).

Thirding the above opinions. Your mental and physical health are the most important. If you have come to realize that your current program is no longer where you want to be, then the decision to leave is the right one to make. It's commendable of you to worry about who will take the position you have been offered and the training you've received, but it's not your problem to solve. You need to take care of yourself, and your department will have to take care of itself. The best you can do is try to leave on the best possible terms: have a conversation with the DGS, your advisor, and anyone else close to you, explaining your situation just as you did here; express your gratitude for the support and education you've received, and let them know you've decided to withdraw at this time because that is the best decision you can make for yourself right now. (Alternatives to consider, depending on your status in the program and your interests, are staying for the MA, and/or taking a leave of absence to take care of your health, if you think that that might help you in the long run, and you may want to come back once you are feeling better. Your post didn't make these sound like options you'd want to take, but it's worth knowing about them so you can make an informed decision.) If this is possible, you could offer to start training someone new now, before you leave, but only if you'll be around anyway and not otherwise. If you need to leave, they will just have to figure it out, and while I'm sure it won't be ideal, they most definitely will.