> spending their untold riches to make the government better is not in vogue. Never has been. Isn't this just lobbying/political contributions? That definitely

> spending their untold riches to make the government better is not in vogue. Never has been. Isn't this just lobbying/political contributions? That definitely happens, but I think I'm generally more in favor of keeping the government and laws somewhat isolated from the influence of money, and keeping philanthropic organizations as a separate category from government agencies. For the most part, private organizations (especially nonprofits) seem mostly willing to operate within the bounds of the laws as currently written, and government organizations like the CIA and NSA and military seem much less perturbed by commiting physical violence to achieve their aims. There are maybe some exceptions, but I can think of a lot more examples of governments being toppled by the CIA than by nonprofits (unless you count the Taliban and ilk as charities, which seems like a stretch).