"How would important projects that progress society get funded and overseen?"
"Who would fund all the important research for diseases and vaccinations and health emergencies?"
It's an error to assert that only the government, through stolen or created money, can fund large projects. Skyscrapers and container ships are hugely expensive and are built by private companies today, and yes, drug research is also done privately. Billions are spent on these projects, because in the end customers demand them, or demand what they facilitate.
If a project is important to "society", it is important to many individuals (like educating the poor), and so they will, without the need for extortion or coercion, come together to fund it or assist in making it happen; if they will not, it is hard to say it is actually important to them. (DBR)
See Also: Poor Won't Be Educated, Who Will Build the Roads