Christopher Turpin’s recent opinion piece, “The Libertarian Ideology is a Joke,” actually made a rather stunning case for a libertarian ideology. In his opinion piece he claimed that: “people are not infinitely smart or wise,” “man is fallible”, “we need laws,” and he implied that governments are often willing to sacrifice trade relationships for war.  We must take these claims as a given, for they are, in reality, true. However, Mr. Turpin has reached very different conclusions, than the libertarians, given these facts.
Mr. Turpin claims “people are not infinitely smart …

On behalf of the Student Finance Committee and in the spirit of increased openness and transparency, we have decided to publish all allocations for the Fall Semester 2011 in The Tiger.  Overall, $109,096.00 was allocated amongst clubs and organizations for this semester.  This amount, teamed with approximately $102,000.00 left over from previous semesters, has left a number of clubs and organizations in very strong fiscal standing. The SFC has been as fair as possible throughout the auditing and allocation process, and consulted the Student Senate following the distribution of funds. …

Often times one hears the concept of a free market dominated by self-interest as the catch-all solutions for our modern societal ills.  This is especially true at Hampden-Sydney where libertarianism seems to be the go-to ideology for everyone wishing to seem “controversial.” The basic tenets state that society needs no real regulation—especially government regulation—because all people are self-interested.  This means that they will only do what is best for them.  Self-interest will prevent corporations from becoming greedy.  It will prevent governments from acting aggressively toward each other.  True practitioners of …

In recent years the student body, and more specifically the fraternities, have come under increasingly intrusive regulation. These regulations include: filling out forms for social events, being forced to close at 2 a.m., cleaning fraternity front lawns by 9 a.m., etc. The intention of these policies is to facilitate a safer and cleanlier environment on our campus’ party scene. However, it seems that no one has stopped to ask if these policies have actually made us safer. I would argue that these policies have actually encouraged more risky behavior.
The regulations …

I am willing to bet anyone reading this column either owns or has used an iPod. The widespread use and knowledge of Apple products illustrates the magnitude of past Apple CEO Steve Job’s influence and the success of Steve Job’s company. I do not need to explain any further why Steve Jobs is an important figure, but his affinity for Hampden-Sydney might seem a little fuzzy. Even though a man, who was the son of a Syrian Muslim and German-American graduate students, and who cited his experiences with LSD as …

It seems that the one thing Americans of all political ideologies can agree on is the importance of a solution to the economic uncertainty that has gripped the United States since 2008. Therefore, it is no surprise that we look to the government to get our economy growing again. Unfortunately, our desire to believe that some all-powerful being holds the answers to our problems makes us vulnerable to the fallacy that the government can create prosperity by manipulating of markets. However, any introduction to economics class can tell you that …

Editor, the Tiger:
Over the past several years our society has taken the responsible move to help protect the health and safety of our citizens by reducing and limiting areas where smoking is acceptable based on years of research which highlights the negative impacts of smoking. The results of a statewide survey completed four years ago revealed that Hampden-Sydney College was the only college or university in Virginia that still allowed smoking on campus with virtually no restrictions. The findings of this survey led to the administration reaching the decision to …

Lion King 3D
Enjoyable to watch: 5
Invigorating to the mind: 3
Chance it makes a good date: 5
Script: 5
Cinematography: 5
Overall average: 4.6

Lion King 3D brings forth a new viewing of a modern classic. The film will be shown in select theatres for two weeks. Before going to the theatre, one knows that the 3-D effect is not required for a film that has the memorable cast of James Earl Jones, Jeremy Irons, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, and Nathan Lane, well-composed songs and a story tried and true. This is different from other …

The Hampden-Sydney Benjamin Rush Society, a club centered around promoting free market policies in the healthcare industry, recently hosted a lecture with Grace-Marie Turner. Mrs. Turner is in charge of the pro-market Galen Institute and the author of Why Obamacare is Wrong for America. Mrs. Turner discussed how the new healthcare law was going to hurt an already dilapidated healthcare industry. She defended the free market, bemoaned government intervention, and pleaded for fewer regulations and lower taxes. At the end of the lecture one member of the audience asked Mrs. …

Editor, the Tiger:
As the president of a fraternity, I would like bring to attention a school policy that is deeply harming the greek system: Hampden-Sydney College is not responsible for any property left in college housing over the summer—which is subsequently stolen. I believe H-SC needs to do more to prevent fraternity property loss because fraternities are different in nature than all other college housing, and the school is missing an opportunity to attract money from donors as it stands.
Over the past two summers, my fraternity has had thousands of …