Comment on Collections: Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part III: Paying For It by Alien@System

In reply to Kaiphranos.

While liturgies don't really happen any more, Bret's above framework does give an interesting way to look at modern philanthropy. Basically, instead of going through the effort of taxing the rich and using the money to fund welfare, the state devolves that cost by expecting rich people to fund a non-profit organization (and encourages it with tax benefits) which provides welfare in their stead. However, this has ceded political power to the rich, both in that even in the best of cases it means a rich person is in command of a welfare apparatus they can extend or withhold according to their political desires, but also in the worst case of the non-profit organization being a political lobbying group that has no function except to push and proliferate the political ambitions of their donor.