Wednesday, May 09, 2012

Sallies interfering again

The Salvation Army gets up my nose and they may as well stop sending me begging letters because they are off my list of worthy causes. I abhor their stance on welfare and now I can add their lobbying on alcohol reform to my reasons for disaffection:

The Salvation Army recommends the Government immediately increase excise on alcohol by 25 per cent. This would have little effect on moderate drinkers but would reduce alcohol consumption by teenagers and heavy drinkers – the most price-sensitive consumers – by as much as 10 per cent.
Stop promoting punishment of the responsible for the actions of the irresponsible, not to mention the economic damage threatened to the many industries associated with alcohol production and sale. I'm sick of it.

I would gladly fund their practical work but cannot separate it from their ignorant and annoying advocacy.

13 comments:

Adolf Fiinkensein said...

This is the sort of nonsense which will scare many people off the Conservative Party.

Anonymous said...

. . .yeah, like all of those classical liberals out there who gave the Libertarianz and ACT such outstanding electoral results.

. . . the same classical liberals who think it's the job on the government to provide free contraception to beneficiaries.

Anonymous said...

They haven't had my support since they hijacked the Wellington Rape Crisis appeal day. Twice.

Richard said...

Sad, but true. And their theology is nuts.

Lindsay, is there a Christian charity you can recommend?

Rachel said...

They could at least get their facts straight, heavy drinkers are significantly LESS price sensitive than moderate drinkers. Not sure about teenagers, but I would bet that overall alcohol consumption wouldn't change much but they would just substitute towards whatever gives the most standard drinks per dollar (it's very handy that they make all alcohol bottles display the number of standard drinks it contains, it makes it a lot easier to calculate the cheapest way to get drunk).

Eric Crampton said...

I'll tell off Greenpeace activists looking for money. But I haven't yet had the heart to tell the kindly looking old men with the collection pots exactly why I'm staying far away from them and not letting them put stickers on my kids.

FF said...

Toxic altruism

Brendan McNeill said...

Yes, its both ironic and depressing to see how the Salvation Army now looks to the State to provide.

Richard, there are still plenty of worthwhile Christian based charities out there.

World Vision is one that comes to mind.

Orphans Aid International, based in Queenstown but working globally is also one I could recommend.

http://www.orphansaidinternational.org/

Disclosure: I'm on the board of Orphans Aid International.

No doubt there are many others.

Psycho Milt said...

Haven't fronted them any cash since they backed the wrong side in the homosexual law reform debates of 1985.

Richard said...

Thanks, Brendan. (I didn't mean to suggest that there were no worthwhile Christian charities!)

Manolo said...

The Sallies, these well-known paedophile defenders, are to be ignored. Always.

Lindsay Mitchell said...

I recommend World Vision too - or Children's Christian Fund. They will provide regular reports into what they are doing in a village/region and with any child you sponsor.

Locally, seems to me the Wellington City Mission is fairly sensible too. My impression is they steer away from politics although I once heard their manager being highly citical of the welfare state.

Paulus said...

When asked for a donation I usually ask what is the operating ratio of the "charity". What does it cost to run - what share of my dollar actually gets to where it is needed.
When in business some years ago and had considerable sums to invest on behalf of my Shareholders I asked for 4 years balance sheets first.
I have asked similar of Greenpeace and all I get is a stare.