Michigan’s Republican State Sen. Bruce Caswell wants the poor to dress appropriately to their station in life — that is, with second-hand clothes. Caswell introduced legislation to require children in the state’s foster care system to buy clothes at stores like Goodwill and Salvation Army under restrictive “gift cards” that would give $79 clothing allowance for the kids. Caswell is the chairman of the DHS Appropriations Subcommittee.
Caswell believes that poor children should not be better dressed than he was:
“I never had anything new,” Caswell says. “I got all the hand-me-downs. And my dad, he did a lot of shopping at the Salvation Army, and his comment was — and quite frankly it’s true — once you’re out of the store and you walk down the street, nobody knows where you bought your clothes.”
Everyone except Caswell, that is.
The legislation was pulled from a bill at the last minute, according to the article below.
Source:Michigan Messenger
Oops, make that “with” and “sights.”
After dropping this stupid idea, ol’ Bruce now wants our “input”:
“My sole goal in this proposal is to make sure that children receive the clothing allowance that the state has provided for them and not have it used for anything else,” said Caswell. “I believe this solution will go a long way to achieving that objective. If anyone else has a better idea on how we can ensure the money goes for clothing alone, I very much welcome those suggestions and urge you to share your ideas with me. I appreciate the input I have already received that has resulted in making the proposal better.”
My suggestion:
How’s about we work on making sure Replicons don’t feather the nests of their corporate masters will billions of taxpayer dollars, before we set our sites on the critical public policy question of how to safeguard the princely sum of $80.00 per year per child for clothing.
Carswell probably considers himself a good Christian, but is demeaning poor children one of the Beatitudes? Blessed be the politician who demeans the poor children as he will reach the kingdom of God? I think NOT! This reminds me of the Teapublican who wants to get rid of child labor laws. Wasn’t that in Maine?
Yes, you CAN find amazing stuff at the Goodwill/SallyAnn/St Vincents. But it takes TIME, going often and spending hours per visit to find the reasonable stuff. And gasoline, to get to thos stores. Whose time? Surely the foster parents have better things to do with their time (help with homework, cook decent economical meals at home instead of buying junk food, provide emotional and psychological support and comfort, go to their own jobs, etc.) than to endlessly troll the aisles in the second-hand stores.
OMG!!! Are you kidding me??? Foster Care Children deserve to be treated as ANY child should be treated. To make it law that these children MUST wear hand-me-down clothing is outrages!!! Where do we come up with these guys??? I sure would have not voted him!!! You can tell he is a Republican, so much compassion here!!!!!
To compel foster kids to wear second-hand clothes exclusively is certainly demeaning, but Caswell has the kernel of a good idea. The State should encourage foster parents to stretch their clothing budgets, and a clothing stipend tied to a thrift-store-only “gift” card is one way of doing it. (The clothing allowance for forster kids should have room for the occasional new garment.)
As every parent knows, children often outgrow clothes before they wear out. Only the wealthy turn up their noses at hand-me-downs.
And the fact is, Goodwill and the other thrift stores are one of the greatest bargains going! Sure, there are ugly garments on their racks. But you can also find plenty of attractive, brand-name merchandise in nearly-new condition. (Sometimes really new. Dirty secret for seniors: you can find never-worn clothes at Goodwill because the owners died before wearing them. You also see kids’ clothes that were bought too soon or too small.) I have half a dozen J. Crew shirts bought at Goodwill for the price of one new one. And nobody can tell they weren’t bought new.
For casual wear – and that’s most of what kids wear – clothes from Goodwill, carefully selected, will not betray their origin. We aren’t talking about rags here. Better for a kid to have five shirts from Goodwill than wear the same thing every day. The latter betrays poverty much more.
VIDEO: Michigan Town Hall Attendees Demand ‘Higher Business Tax’ Instead of Snyder’s Education Cuts
Think Progress, 4/25/2011
http://thinkprogress.org/2011/04/25/michigan-townhall-education-snyder/
Excerpt:
Angry residents confronted Republican state Sen. Tom Casperson at a town hall last week over his support for Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder’s (R) proposed budget, which — like those of many other GOP governors — would slash funding for education while cutting corporate taxes. Snyder’s budget would cut spending on education by $471 per student and reduce teachers’ pay and benefits. Yet while students and teachers are asked to sacrifice, Snyder’s budget would give huge tax breaks to businesses in the form of a flat 6 percent corporate tax rate.
At Casperson’s town hall in Marquette, Ishpeming school board member Mike Flynn joined numerous other constituents in speaking out against the cuts. Flynn said his district is already struggling to make ends meet, having shut down its middle school, laid off teachers and staff, and privatized its bus and custodial services. Flynn asked those in attendance to stand if the oppose education cuts. “Nearly everyone in the room jumped to their feet while cheering and clapping,” the Maquette Mining Journal reported.
Here are a couple of disturbing stories out of Michigan courtesy of Rachel Maddow:
Maddow on Emergency Manager Takeover of Benton Harbor, Michigan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBzkuiD6LD0
Benton Harbour’s “Catherine Ferguson Academy” to be closed under new GOP legislation
I am suspicious of Representative Caswell’s stated humanitarian, thrift loving motivations. If an idea is a good one, it should be good enough for every child. Why is it only a good idea for foster children? Shouldn’t every child be forced to get their clothing from Goodwill and the Salvation army?
Also, isn’t it a Commie idea to force people to buy at certain stores and not give them a free choice to consume from whatever store they please. I don’t know, but that definitely sounds suspiciously like socialism to me. Is Caswell secretly Red?
And what an excellent example of the power of dress young Oliver Twist was. Wrapped in the blanket which had hitherto formed his only covering, he might have been the child of a nobleman or a beggar; – it would have been hard for the haughtiest stranger to have fixed his station in society. But now he was enveloped in the old calico robes, that had grown yellow in the same service; he was badged and ticketed, and fell into his place at once – a parish child – the orphan of a workhouse – the humble, half-starved drudge – to be cuffed and buffeted through the world, despised by all, and pitied by none.
~~~Charles Dickens (Oliver Twist, Ch. 1, Para. 14)
[…] as Oliver looked out of the parlour window, and saw the Jew roll [his old clothes] up in his bag and walk away, he felt quite delighted to think that they were safely gone, and that there was now no possible danger of his ever being able to wear them again. They were sad rags, to tell the truth; and Oliver had never had a new suit before.
~~Charles Dickens (Oliver Twist, Ch. 14, Para. 8)
I thought I read Senator Caswell’s words before… and then there’s this passage from Dickens, speaking about someone remarkably like Caswell:
Such is the influence which the condition of our own thoughts exercises even over the appearance of external objects. Men who look on nature and their fellow men, and cry that all is dark and gloomy, are in the right; but the somber colours are reflections from their own jaundiced vision.
~Charles Dickens (Oliver Twist, Ch. 34, Para. 60)
As I thought a little more about my previous post I decided to amend my words somewhat so as not to give the wrong impression. Goodwill, the Salvation Army, and others like them provide a great service and I certainly do not wish to demean their institutions and the benefits they provide for those in need.
It is Caswell’s reasoning that I find so appalling.
Most modern human beings strive to protect and improve the lives of the young. Caswell is obviously living a pre-Dicken’s existence as are all those who voted to put him in office. Hopefully there is a special place in Hades for each and every one of them.
As disturbing as the Senator’s comments are, even more disturbing to me are the number of people that really do think this is a good idea. After all, what’s wrong with trying to save a little money?
And I’ll bet there are a lot of them – all wearing their Brooks Brother suits and $100 silk ties.
I think a lot of Republicans really do like the thought of a caste system in America. Now if they could just find another word for it.
I lived the first seven years of my life in Hillsdale County in a town called Litchfield. This man is typical of those who believe because he “suffered,” so should everyone else. I knew many of these personalities in Michigan, and still call many of them dear friends. They are appalled at what is happening to their state as the government begins to shutter towns, relieving their citizens from the awful burden of being represented locally. But they have no idea what to do about it, so they fall back on the Old Saws: We had it coming.
I lived for many years in a town called Jackson (the birthplace of the Republican party — there’s a rock somewhere in town commemorating the event) that, like most of Michigan, had a hey-day in some remote past, but no more, and not for a long time. Like many places, it looks like an economic bomb went off continuously each year for 50 years.
Deprivation is part of the psyche of Michigan. “Well, we did without, and so will you.” Most of what my own family “did without” was education. Smarts were not appreciated in Hillsdale County. That fine tradition seems alive and well today.
Another Republican for smaller government.
Whatever that is supposed to mean. Maybe it means foster kids should have to go to technical training schools instead of expensive high schools and colleges. Teach ’em some limousine maintenance and how to scrape barnacles off a yacht. Or how to be a chimney sweep at a poorhouse.
OK, Caswell’s fashion sense aside (that looks like a very ill-fitting, Goodwill creation in the picture), I cannot even begin to yell loud enough at this dude. How to easily make a person know that he/she is lesser? Make them wear ugly old clothes, ill-fitting. Has he never read Harry Potter? Has he never seen Zorro, the Gay Blade: “There is no sin in being poor, only in dressing poorly”.
I’ve spent a few years discussing things like this w/my therapist. The wolves who raised me did their best, the alpha was my gram. My mother, who had another child in the second marriage, dressed my bro in the best from the most exclusive shop in Santa Monica and found me things to wear at Salvation Army. We were not poor, but she was poor in her own heart and soul and took it out on me. If I had been less educated or a person equal to my mother’s mein, I would have been violent, perhaps a criminal. My gram couldn’t afford to re-dress me, but she helped with love and a few dollars here and there so that I could go to downtown Los Angeles on the bus and get fashionable clothing that was new and less expensive at the schmatze outlets.
“Compassionate conservatism” in action…
Does Hillsdale County ring any bells…..Lots of inbreeding there…self copulation too… then some like to see where they have been…and try and go back….
My only question is whether there is currently a stipend given to foster families for clothing, or would this be in addition to the meager stipend given out to foster families to care for the child.
My mother provided foster care and was responsible for coming up with clothes for a wide range of age groups in both genders, and an allotment from the state to buy clothes would have really helped.
While this makes for a great headline (if you’re looking to attack a Republican elected official) it doesn’t seem to convey the whole story.