Chuggerazis Strike Back

The Faced versus The Po-Faced:

"The ‘Sock Puppets’ report, released today by the IEA, shows a complete lack understanding of civil society and the importance of campaigning and advocacy within the democratic and policy making process, or its importance for a strong and independent sector.

What "Independent"? Paid for by the state is not independent.

Yes, there has been an increase of state funding within the sector as charities deliver more public services. This is not unique to us. There has been a trend towards non-state delivery of public services under successive governments, including outsourcing to the private sector.

This is irrelevant to the case in point - tax-payers getting shafted, charities getting the reach-around, spending our confiscated loot to lobby their government pay-masters for laws and regulations on everyone else and hand-outs for themselves.

Charities receiving public money are independent and not for profit, and have responsibility to their cause and beneficiaries; who ultimately funds the service - be it public, voluntary or trust funded - is largely irrelevant as long as they are delivering their social aim.

They are not independent. They are funded by the government, and much of their work would not exist if the government didn't pay them to do it. Poverty pimps should face the public, not suck up to the state.

Not-for-profit is not a virtue. There is no moral vantage to be reached from abjuring and rejecting profit, that being nothing but the obligation on every shop-keeper and house-holder to pay his bills, and the good common sense to gather a little more, God willing.

It is a shame that there is an absence of thought-provoking debate about the role charities could play in public service delivery to get under the skin of the more difficult social problems."

Yeah.