The Political Entrepreneurs of Philanthropy...

The Chronicle of Philanthropy posts that "More than a dozen New York City council members have earmarked money to community groups with which they have had close personal ties, and government investigators are looking into how much money has possibly been wasted on groups that rated support only because of their connections" citing this New York Times article.

Whenever I see instances of this I wonder about the ethics: When you give up your money in taxes, and it is then earmarked for "non-profit" non-governmental organizations, even that veneer of government accountability is lost.

And Peace shall reign...

I recently learned of the Bhoodan Movement of the 1950's here is the Wikipedia blurb:

"The Bhoodan (Hindi: भूदान, Urdu: بھودان), or Land Gift, Movement was a voluntary land reform movement in India started by Acharya Vinoba Bhave in 1951.

Controversy on effectiveness
As an experiment in voluntary social justice, Bhoodan has attracted admiration throughout the world. There is little question that it created a social atmosphere in India that presaged land reform legislation activity throughout the country. It also had a tangible effect on the lives of many people - over 5 million acres (20,000 km²) were donated. However, it failed to meet the more ambitious goal of 50 million acres (200,000 km²) that had been set for it."

It is the voluntary actions of men that create a permanent change in how we interact with each other. I wonder if there are more examples of this...