Kickstarter

Kickstarter is an American public-benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowd-funding platform focused on creativity. The company’s stated mission is to “help bring creative projects to life”. Kickstarter has reportedly received more than $1.9 billion in pledges from 9.4 million backers to fund 257,000 creative projects, such as films, music, stage shows, comics, journalism, video games, technology and food-related projects.

People who back Kickstarter projects are offered tangible rewards or experiences in exchange for their pledges. This model traces its roots to subscription model of arts patronage, where artists would go directly to their audiences to fund their work.

I do like the concept because the art world is always begging and Kickstarter puts a brand of honor on begging. Starving artist no more, stand up and ask for the money for brushes and paint and ballet slippers and oboes and face paint to entertain and enrich the society with culture.

But investors (those folks with extra cash to waste) want a return on their investment. With some it might be the pride of philanthropy or a star on the walk of fame? Maybe it will be a sponsorship of the famous in the tabloids? Maybe a cut in the action so if a show or a tune or a painting becomes prized and profitable?

So think about this, if you will?

Soon it will be tax time. Some accountant is shape shifting the numbers of what the government requires to pay the high salaries and keep the lights on and look like all this cash is going to good places and then presents the Tax Table.

Now government, from what I understand, is people who represent you and me and the guy down the block to find ways of making life better for all of us. If we didn’t elect (vote for) a few folks it would be a madhouse of mass confusing with all our different views.

Someone has to decide how we protect people from eating contaminated chickens or driving over rotten bridges or waging wars to protect our shores from everything but plastic waste. Our bureaucracy has formed a system for balance between the judicial and the legislative and the administrative, whether we like it or not, but it was good enough many years ago so we might as well stick with it.

So some guy or gal with a pleasant smile and a nice suit decides to throw their name in the hat (which is the new form of election) and all the rest hope they will do well by our neighborhood and school and kids and protect us from the meanest.

Then in April 15^th, we are told what that will cost us.

Smarter minds have figured out how many bombs and how many planes and how many buildings and roads and monuments and president monster vehicles and wars and humanitarian assistance will cost and here is the bill.

My question is ‘why isn’t this a Kickstarter?’

Do you want to pay for a bunch of bombs? Kick in some cash.

Do you want to pay for immigration denial? Kick in some cash.

Do you want clean water? Kick in some cash.

Do you want a system of sturdy and safe roadways and rails and regulated transportation of your avocados (see # 2) and IPA brews? Kick in some cash.

 Do you want to employ the folks who don’t have enough talent or motivation to find a regular job and become fodder for generals to continue their games? Kick in some cash.

Do you want to fund psychological and medical care for our heroes? Kick in some cash.

I could go on and on but I hope you get my point. Everything cost money and only those who make money can pay for it. You decide.

Just like when you were young and wanted an All American G-I Joe action figure and your parents said, “We can’t afford that”?

You may not have understood it but you accepted their decision because you didn’t have the cash to overrule them. Frustrated? Tough, that is the way it is (unless you want to borrow the debt).

So our government continues to use the credit card to pay for everything that everyone wants and each party puts a political face on the effort to keep employment up and debt down, you and I pay the cost of the unknown.

How much does it cost to keep a missile silo in Kansas fully operational? How much oil does all those tanks and hummers use? What is the National Intelligence University and what does that cost? 

You and I and the guy down the block are all paying for this. Do we really want to?

Would we rather save the whales and the polar bears and those cute penguins? Lets put some money into hugging trees and windmills like the Dutch and more surfing instead of off shore drilling.

If the government put up a ‘kickstarter’ for more planes or bombs or pipelines or space exploration or caring for the sick or maybe a wall, would you chip in?

Think about your philanthropy habits. Save the little puppies and hopefully keep NPR on the air but how are you about the homeless or the addicted or mentally ill? Maybe the government will take care of them. That is why I pay my taxes.

I can’t think it for you you’ll have to decide, whether Judas Iscariot
had God on his side.