And/or let's say that the governor of your state considers giving huge cash payments to people over 60 years of age (and you qualify), would you take it?
And let's say your governor is open to ideas about handing out huge cash payments to anyone who submits a good proposal. Would you submit such a proposal or blame a person who did?
Obviously, some of us would object to all the above on principle. I might be one of those. You too.
But most people would take the cash and say "screw the governor!" I don't know if I would blame them.
In your first supposition it is an individual spending his own money. I would have no objection.
In the rest it is government spending from the public treasury. Giving away public tax dollars for individual benefit is immoral.
With the exception of rewarding the submission of an outstanding proposal for a thorny problem I have no objection. This is an idea that probably is under utilized. Perhaps because it is difficult to manage. A committee would have to review hundreds or thousands of proposals and have to select the individuals best proposal without prejudice. But paying for merit is the heart of capitalism.