Reactionary piece from Karl Zinsmeister, attacking @AnandWrites and praising unchecking private #philanthropy. Zinsmeister avoids the debate on the "democratic deficit" built into large-scale private donations (1/5) tinyurl.com/u3kseql
And thus he accepts that wealthy donors can and should shape publicly debate and steer policy on issues ranging from local school reform to global public health (2/5)
Zinsmeister also ignores the tax avoidance that facilities donations -- the "hoarding" behind the "helping", as Giridharadas puts it. We are told that philanthropy addresses #inequality when in fact it is founded on it. (3/5)
Zinsmeister then seeks to defend philanthropists on the grounds that their motives are never as evil as their detractors make out, a position that assumes that "pure intentions" are an adequate alibi for all manner of bad outcomes (4/5)
Zinsmeister's final point that most giving in US originates from non-millionaires is more interesting, but again it brackets distinctions, drawn by Giridharadas & others, that separate plutocratic power from everyday charitable acts @Philliteracy @BenSoskis @Rhodri_H_Davies
