While I am disheartened with the state of politics in America right now, I have to admit a certain glee in watching those whose personal biases are so repugnant to anyone who can read (or do even rudimentary research,) they make national news.
Today’s example: State Senator Bruce Caswell of Michigan. Of course he’s a Republican. It seems Senator Caswell, while serving a state in which unemployment is well over 10%, concerns himself with another matter: The foster children in Michigan should not be allowed to have new clothes. After all, he claims he didn’t have them when he was growing up; why should they? His plan would require foster children in the state of Michigan to shop for clothing solely in secondhand stores.
His explanation?
“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.”
Senator Caswell goes on to say that he doesn’t know if this plan would actually save the state money. Obviously, he’s more interested in making sure those damn throwaway kids don’t get anything he allegedly didn’t have while he was growing up, isn’t he?
Maybe this doesn’t seem like a big deal to anyone reading. After all, there’s nothing wrong with going to the secondhand store to get clothing; the vast majority of people now are trying to cut corners anywhere they can to keep up with $4.00 a gallon gas and spiraling food prices. At the same time, it’s hard to believe that Senator Caswell’s super-shopper dad was purchasing items like shoes and underwear at a thrift shop, isn’t it?
Foster children have a rough enough time growing up without the harassment of adults who have no clue what they’re talking about. I wondered to myself what the grooming and clothing budget is per year for a foster child in Michigan. Well, due to the miracle that is Google, I know. It’s $79 a year. That’s right – seventy-nine bucks. I’ll bet Senator Caswell’s shoes cost more than $79 a pair, and I’ll bet he has several.
It is comical to me to listen to those who believe that all fetuses are sacred – well, till they leave the womb. Foster kids didn’t ask to get dumped into the system. For every “snowflake baby” (and don’t get me started on how angry that whole phenomenon makes me as well,) there’s hundreds of adoptable kids who languish in foster homes around the country. There are currently a quarter of a million foster kids in America. They might have caring, involved foster parents who dig into their own pockets to make sure the child has adequate shoes and clothes. They might not. At the same time, to marginalize these kids even further by insisting that they can’t use a fraction of that $79 to buy some new underwear or a pair of new sneakers? That takes a special kind of hate, in my opinion.
It’s nice to know there is nothing else happening in Michigan that requires the state government’s attention, isn’t it?
-S
Cartoon evil isn’t evil enough to descibe this. This is “Running a tight and dirty race for a High Level congressional seat in the Fiery Furnace” evil!
Comment by Morani — April 24, 2011 @ 12:44 pm
It annoys me so much when the government’s like “oh, you. how dare you ask for basic clothing when I need to spend $2000 on a nice suit so I can meet an ambassador of WTFville.” Especially considering how jacked up the system is for foster kids anyway. Let’s make it a little tighter, of course.
Ugh. I just. I don’t even understand people anymore.
Comment by Hell Cat — April 25, 2011 @ 5:45 pm
Ugh I can’t believe this. It annoys me so much that these Republican senators are so against abortion, but once the kids are born and don’t have a family to support them and they go into the foster care system and now don’t have any money from the government and they don’t even care about these kids. I think that if someone is pro-life then they should be pro-life after the baby is born too. Instead of cutting back on costs for each child they should give more money to these children. Who can live off of $79 a year for clothes and shoes? I know it would be extremely difficult for me. This guy Caswell obviously doesn’t want anyone to have what he didn’t and like you said he probably spends more that $79 on a button up shirt that he wears to one event and then tosses it aside. I think foster children need to stop being tossed aside and should be helped. They already don’t have a family to help them so why not give them a little hope by letting them buy some new clothes?
Comment by Kiersten Krog — October 25, 2011 @ 2:39 pm