Actually I think its more like donating money to a cause you agree with, with the proviso that if it works, you'll get something for it.
Put it this way. Kickstarter just hands your money over. Of course its possible for somebody whos raised money to disappear with it without providing any product or refunds. Even if you threaten legal action and they are in the USA, its going to be quite a process (a lot of time and money) to recover your tiny investment.... And if they choose to move to another country or claim to be 'late but still providing it', even more complex...
I guess the sane way of viewing a kickstarter that way.
Personally though, the way kickstarter and (many) projects describe rewards as preorders, then I think they should be liable to fulfill the or return the proceeds. If the money is invested in this bast case scenario you describe, than kickstarter and the projects should clearly state that.
If they don't than kickstarter or some of the projects facing some kind of legal action when the money just disappears would be a good thing, so that the descriptions start reflecting reality again.
Edit: I've not donated on kickstarter, so I don't know if they clearly state this somewhere later in the process. But from what I've seen kickstarters "preorders" seem irresponsible to me.
Its not in the users interest to pre-order, unless there are steep discounts. So if the pre-order is discounted, i'd say a user can weight his/her risk and then do it. However, if it was a full price preorder, then its definitely not worth it.
Put it this way. Kickstarter just hands your money over. Of course its possible for somebody whos raised money to disappear with it without providing any product or refunds. Even if you threaten legal action and they are in the USA, its going to be quite a process (a lot of time and money) to recover your tiny investment.... And if they choose to move to another country or claim to be 'late but still providing it', even more complex...