The Internet In Black And White

I read this “Money Moral Dilemna”:

“I’ve emailed friends and family asking them to sponsor me for a very worthwhile charity. Some have replied and sponsored me but some haven’t replied or just said they can’t afford it. I know they have good jobs and spend on luxuries so I don’t believe them.”

This is one of my problems with the concept of charities: People don’t give according to their means. If all worthwhile causes were state funded out of taxes (why are medical research and help for the elderly and sheltering the homeless and feeding the starving paid for out of voluntary donations but other human needs – and non-needs – are funded by taxes?) they could get the appropriate funding paid for by everyone according to their ability instead of one-off donations of variable sizes whenever somebody goes for a run or sits in a tub of beans or the BBC newsreaders sing an ABBA medley on the TV. It would also reduce overheads that go into advertising including those bleeders on the high street being paid to get a direct debit out of you. (Of course this also relies on the competency and purity of the government to spend the money well and without waste, which is usually the problem, but why not sort out THAT part if we have an imperfect system either way?)