Many today feel like the correlation between societal perversion and societal decay should be the basis for the long overdue discussion about the role government has played in shaping society through the methods by which they fund social service programs.
Why is the most prosperous nation in the history of man decaying? The answer is simple, government either intentionally or unintentionally has over stepped it bounds by downplaying the importance of the role faith and religion has in society. The most important fundamental of Christianity that should never be forgotten is we all have a very rich Father who loves us more than we can ever imagine. All he asks of us is to acknowledge him and try to live life in his way. Not trying to live life in his way will always result in brokenness, despair, hopelessness, corruption and a lot of other social ills.
Somewhere in the mid twentieth century government crowned itself as the hope and deliverer of society. In a subtle way society has been drawn away from acknowledging we all have a rich Father, therefore our faith level and dependency upon him to deliver us has waned. Putting faith in government will never lead to true salvation; but often leads to greater despair. There are core functions government is responsible for providing in order to maintain community viability and social norms. Government could easily be flagged for lane violations when it strays to far from its core responsibilities. In an implicit way, government has made the case that since it is devoted to helping, it can't be doing anything wrong.
The line between what social services can do and what can be achieved through true salvation has become very blurred for too many in society. Government social services once were seen as a short-term lifeline for those in the midst of an emergency situation. Now everything is seen as an emergency situation and requires long-term government supported solutions.
The collaboration between government and non-profit organizations has led to a very vexing condition in today's society; A condition that should be under strict scrutiny from the clergy. This condition must be viewed as the crossroad that can lead towards faith, or away from faith. The away-from-faith road is broad, and the way-to-faith road is narrow. Before the rise of nonprofits people were faced with the reality of self-actualization. People were forced to dig deeper and try harder which in the end had a positive refining effect; that resulted in stronger individuals capable of being role models and mentors in society.
Nonprofits added a new dimension to how society deals with adversity; a dimension where good intentions are seen as cures and good intentions were not to be questioned. Nonprofits were able to capitalize on the vanity of society by becoming the humble gatekeepers that represent who we are. This has led to some non-profits having paving rights agreement to the broad road and they tend to operate under the number of souls served model, rather than a model that places value on outcomes. This model aligns perfectly with the government model in that it touts data in the abstract. Government for the most part is only interested in the projected or potential number of souls a nonprofit can serve, when making funding decisions.
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Our greatest strength is embedded within our faith. No faith, no true strength. Weakness, doubt, fear, unproductiveness, inconsistency and incessant want, are all attributes of the faithless. Everywhere you look you see individuals displaying such attributes. These attributes used to be attention grabbers and were of grave concern to society. Nonprofits have normalized these attributes by making the case that life is oftentimes unfair, therefore a sizeable amount of funding is needed if we wish to offset the shifting sands of life. The lack of government funding is often seen as the bottleneck that is causing such imperfections in society.
Politicians formulate their campaigns around satisfying societal imperfections. It is natural to give a helping hand to someone in need. The principles of serving others are foundational to the Christian faith. When government wanders too deep into the charity business there is good reason to be alarmed. Government is notorious for waste, fraud and abuse. Government is the biggest funder of non-profit organizations.
Most nonprofits can't resist the temptation that is inherent when playing by government rules. Rules that are mostly open-ended that function on the honor system. Rules that have no mention of temporary condition, nor do they hint in any way at faith building. When nonprofits submit proposals to government for funding they prefer to keep the spotlight on the number of souls that are at a loss in the community. The more lost they are the more services they deserve.
A decaying society means a rising misery index. The Lack of decent jobs, high cost of living, substance abuse, debauchery, and the drastic change in the religious climate, are all contributing to the misery index and furthering the decay. The level of need is becoming greater every day.
Since capitalism is based on supply and demand, it didn't take long before helping poor people became a growth industry that is being enabled by government playing the role of Robin Hood. The structure of government requires social needs to be categorized in some manageable way. Government can never bring itself to accept the fact that diverse social needs can actually share a common root cause.
All nonprofits require a cause, either a real one or perceived one. Since government departmentalize social needs, and nonprofits are in constant search of new causes, a symbiotic relationship was formed through natural evolution. The greater the cause, the greater the need, the greater the need, the greater the delight of the network of public and private entities that wants to help. The more they help the more help they need in order to keep helping. This only leads to greater administrative costs that somehow always manage to align itself with the scope of the cause. This oftentimes results in the cause (either real or perceived) becoming an enabler for the whole operation. This may seem like a vicious cycle but it fits perfectly within the cubby holes of government. There seems to be an unwritten rule that prevents government and nonprofits from ever declaring that outcomes are the only barometer that will be used for determining the success of the relationship.
"All legislative policies that favor the broad road of dependency over the narrow road of personal fortitude in the face of personal challenges only serve to feed the insatiable appetite of the nonprofit industrial complex. Such policies weaken the fabric of society in many ways, which results in a bountiful supply of hopelessness."
The industrial complex comes into existence when nonprofits become so influential until politicians feel a need to keep them satisfied. Nonprofits have formed voting blocks and have the ability to lobby politicians to push for new taxes and new policies that favor their business model. They know the importance of attaching legislation to their cause. A special tax to save underserved children is a classic example of how nonprofits sway politicians to fund their cause.
People helping people are a good thing and should be encouraged and incentivized when possible. Government funding of nonprofits can sometime be a vice rather than a virtue. Providing social services ad nauseam is not the way to strengthen the fabric of a society that is suffering from the lack of self-actualization.
All legislative policies that favor the broad road of dependency over the narrow road of personal fortitude in the face of personal challenges only serve to feed the insatiable appetite of the nonprofit industrial complex. Such policies weaken the fabric of society in many ways, which results in a bountiful supply of hopelessness.
Government should be concerned about how tax dollars are spent when dealing with non-profits. Government should be equally concerned about how committed the non-profit is to cultivating interpersonal faith of those they serve; never ceasing to remind them of the power of salvation they've been gifted with. Faith management should be seen as a means to permanently fixing problems by tapping into one's self rather than creating generational dependency. There is no power greater than he that is within you.
Blindly shoveling taxpayer money to non-profit organizations should be viewed as an insidious way of exacerbating the decaying society problem. Government funding to nonprofits should not be done with impunity.
There are right ways and wrong ways to extend a helping hand. You've heard the one about the fishing lesson and the sandwich. There is some merit to it but there is a more grandiose one that goes like this:
We all have a very rich father who loves us far beyond anything we can ever comprehend. We all have an equal share of love from our rich Father. It is up to each and every one of us to decide if we want to acknowledge we have a very rich Father, and show that we are thankful for what he does for us by living in a pleasing way before him. This is a tried and true way to self-actualization.
Therefore, any government funded helping hand should come with a disclaimer that emphasizes giving thanks to the Father, and not directly to politicians. Instead of spreading this great truth, the complex indoctrinates those they serve with the idea that they can't make it on their own without them. They also make false statements like if we lose our government funding all hope is lost for those they serve.
Any helping hand organization that has banished all thought or possibility of God being able to accomplice through their organization exponentially more than they ever could on their own, without the need for government funding, isn't worth their weight in salt, when it comes to strengthening the fabric of society.
The right way avoids the temptations of dependency, while the wrong way ensnares and encourages dependency. When numbers become the focus and outcomes become irrelevant, all is lost because you've entered into the realm of symbolism. Most nonprofits tend to be top heavy on symbolic solutions but very weak on actual statistical data that shows success.
Government Request For Proposals that generate a list of respondents a mile long is a bad sign. Nonprofits presenting and raising alarm bells over social causes that nobody knew we had is another bad sign. When positive social data gets treated as an emergency in disguise that is waiting to happen by nonprofits, it should make you wonder. A surge in the need for social services in the midst of a burgeoning network of nonprofits and not-for-profit organizations is a very bad sign. Nonprofits say they make a community vibrant and joyful for all. If operators of nonprofits and not-for-profit organizations are buying large homes in your area at an alarming rate, while homelessness and taxes that are supposed to help the underserved are trending upwards, you may be living in the midst of a nonprofit industrial complex.
This article will be interpreted as being crass by some, but on point by others. Given the rate in which society is decaying any rational person who believes in salvation should be open to having a candid discussion on the ground rules surrounding how government funds non-profits. We can start by comparing decade-over-decade data from the time of the great depression to the present day. Life's problems have always been around and each generation has had to deal with them. If government continues to refuse to acknowledge the power of self-actualization then all is lost. The religious climate must change back to acknowledging the role of our rich Father if we are going to strengthen the fabric of society.
FL SOCIOECONOMIC DATA
| County | Median Household Income | Median Home Value | Average Effective Property Tax Rate | Poverty Rate | Poverty Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| County | Median Household Income | Median Home Value | Average Effective Property Tax Rate | Poverty Rate | Poverty Rank |
| Alachua | $49,078.00 | $173,900.00 | 1.18% | 19.8% | 46th |
| Baker | $61,769.00 | $120,900.00 | 0.78% | 15.4% | 35th |
| Bay | $51,829.00 | $172,600.00 | 0.69% | 13.4% | 27th |
| Bradford | $46,197.00 | $97,200.00 | 0.84% | 19.5% | 45th |
| Brevard | $54,359.00 | $177,400.00 | 0.9% | 11% | 11th |
| Broward | $57,333.00 | $243,100.00 | 1.12% | 12.6% | 23rd |
| Calhoun | $38,609.00 | $81,300.00 | 0.65% | 21.3% | 53rd |
| Charlotte | $49,225.00 | $176,500.00 | 1.03% | 11.1% | 12th |
| Citrus | $41,424.00 | $123,800.00 | 0.8% | 15.2% | 34th |
| Clay | $62,653.00 | $174,400.00 | 0.87% | 8.8% | 2nd |
| Collier | $65,675.00 | $340,100.00 | 0.71% | 10.6% | 9th |
| Columbia | $44,491.00 | $117,800.00 | 1.02% | 17.3% | 40th |
| DeSoto | $35,057.00 | $84,400.00 | 1.21% | 26.1% | 65th |
| Dixie | $38,237.00 | $74,500.00 | 0.76% | 24.7% | 64th |
| Duval | $53,473.00 | $166,900.00 | 0.97% | 14.5% | 30th |
| Escambia | $49,286.00 | $133,600.00 | 0.79% | 14.7% | 31st |
| Flagler | $53,872.00 | $200,000.00 | 0.92% | 10.3% | 5th |
| Franklin | $42,855.00 | $139,500.00 | 0.67% | 22.8% | 56th |
| Gadsden | $40,922.00 | $99,000.00 | 0.85% | 23.6% | 60th |
| Gilchrist | $42,357.00 | $97,800.00 | 0.79% | 16.8% | 39th |
