When I first read the article about the Michigan State Senator's proposal, I can't say I was surprised. What State Senator Bruce Caswell is proposing is that the Michigan funded clothing allowances for foster children should only be spent in thrift stores. People under the program would get a gift card that could only be used at The Salvation Army, Goodwill or other thrift stores.

Like any good politician wanting to show he understands people, in his statement the State Senator talked about how when he was a boy his family was poor and he had to get hand me downs. He even gave some words of wisdom his father said which was once you're out of the store and walk down the street, no one knows where you bought your clothes.

I know what this stems from. A few months ago there was a scandal in California where they did an audit of where government assisted welfare cards, essentially debit cards, were being used. A significant number were shown to have been used in tribal casinos and strip clubs. The local radio stations, especially conservatives ones, were on a hot streak. It fits into the narrative that welfare people are nothing but bums and freeloaders who just need to get a job. If we cut off the funds they would find work.

I am getting so tired of the simple, Sunday bible school approach some would want to use about understanding complicated issues.

Take the State Senator. He wants to use the experience he had as a child and port that into today's reality. I did a little check on State Senator Bruce Caswell. He was born in 1949, making him a little over 60 years old. He grew up in a time of great hope and prosperity in this country, and he has reaped the benefits of that. By all accounts he is a well meaning, middle of the road conservative who is doing nothing more than trying to do what is best for himself and his community, and I respect him for it.

See, I can't just come out and trash talk the man because I understand a bit where he's coming from. He is looking at his life in hindsight and he's seeing where, as a kid, things worked out OK by using thrift store clothing. There's nothing wrong with buying thrift store clothing. There is a thrift store a block away from me and I do go in from time to time to buy items. I have a desk and a chair in my living room from the store. I also have some milk cartons and wood I use for shelves. I'm not ashamed about them, but if I could get a proper bookcase I would.

It's a choice I made, and I have the choice to go to the thrift shop or go to a fancy furniture store to get my items. I didn't always manage my money so well but I learned. I had to learn in the real world, not by some artificial barriers that forced me to into decisions I resented.

Now, I know people like State Senator Bruce Caswell will say if it is my money, of course I can buy whatever I want, but if their tax money is paying for it, shouldn't the state have a say in where you buy, to insure the funds are being used properly?

I don't live in an upscale neighborhood. My neighborhood would be best described as working poor. What is funny is my old neighborhood was also working poor, it's just that the facade at my new place is a little cleaner. The economic conditions are still the same. Just a few blocks up is a place called Food City. It is the 'ethnic' chain of the larger grocery conglomerate, which nicely translates into saying Food City is the store they put in the poor neighborhoods. Their prices, all around, are just a little bit higher than the regular store. At the beginning of every month the store is packed with women and children as they shop for food for the month. The reason the first of the month is packed is because they have gotten their government assistance checks or they have money placed in their government issued debit cards.

Sure, you have some people trying to work the system, but a vast majority of the people are trying to do what we all want to do, provide for ourselves and those who depend on us and do it with some dignity. Now, at the store down the street, since everyone is in the same boat, there is a degree of patience and understanding when the WIC book or the debit card is brought out, because somethings can be put on one and not the other. However, I have seen how people react in other stores without a large working poor population. They are looked upon with shame, with disgust. I talked once about how a woman bought a generic cereal, which was a dollar less than the national brand, but it couldn't be used on her WIC voucher because it wasn't an approved item. She could have gotten more food for the same price but government regulations wouldn't allow that to happen.

This all works back to the thrift store. The State Senator talked about how nobody would know where you bought clothes, yet the quiet world he lived in over 60 years ago isn't the world today. Having to go to the thrift store exclusively for clothes takes out going to places like K-Mart, Target or Wal-Mart, where inexpensive clothes are available. I'm not saying kids should dress like they are walking out of a magazine, but they shouldn't look like extras in a Little Rascals film, and despite what the State Senator was intending, this would be the consequence of his proposal. Foster kids would be further stigmatized, which would lead to a dangerous cycle.

We have to help people, educate people but where government gets into issues is when they start to micromanage people. That's what the State Senator's bill proposes. It wants to force families taking care of foster kids to shop at thrift stores. My mother used to do foster care and she would take the kids to a Target or other discount store for clothes, which is the same place she would shop for clothes. Think about it; if you have a family taking care of kids and they are forced to shop for their clothes at a specific place, how does that help the child have a sense of self? The kid is designated as different, as something regulated and not like other kids. That is the unattended consequence of this proposed law.