I feel as though I'm forced to donate so much through the government....you know, to help those in need....that I find it difficult to give any more to "charities".
It doesn't seem to matter where you donate. If it's an organization, it's made up of people. Within that group of people will be incompetence or corruption. From the Church, to government, to any charitable organization there will be some money used other than intended. In some cases, it's necessary, in others, it's not.
The Catholic church is a funny one....look at they treasures, land, gold reserves and other assets they have....and yet Jesus taught that the woman who gave a few coins gave more because she gave everything she had. What a joke.
The Government....What percentage of a tax dollar actually goes to help someone? After all, you have to pay the legislators and all of their staffs, the IRS folks who figure out your taxes, the military and and other authorities who will come and force you to pay up if you try to give any less than what they determine is correct, the bureaucracy that pushes the "dollar" from one desk to another and decides where it should end up, and the people who actually dole out the "charity". In the end, the people who get help, if any, are probably getting a dollar that is borrowed from another country, the tax dollar being used up on supporting the numerous cogs that make up the machine we call government.
Sure, you have to take care of some things.....any organization will have a cost of operation. You'll never have 100% of a charitable dollar make it to those in need.......but how bad it gets is just saddening.
So I help people locally and wherever else I can that I feel is actually going to help someone....and on the other side, I plan to be prepared to deal with any issues I have in my future on my own and not count on others. I don't expect more than I give and I sure as hell wouldn't demand it from people.
/rant
