We found ourselves in the unusual position last week of not knowing which side to cheer for in a debate over a welfare bill introduced in the Florida Legislature.

State Sen. Ronda Storms, a Republican, said food stamps should be used to buy milk, vegetables, fruit, meat and other staples, not sweets, chips and other snack foods as is now allowed. She also wants to block recipients of other welfare funds from using their electronic benefit cards at ATMs in casinos and strip clubs, and any location outside the state.

Storms' measure would mandate a "culturally sensitive" state campaign to educate the poor on the benefits of a healthy diet.

At first blush, it's hard to find fault with the proposal. Even some of the most compassionate souls we know have expressed rancor after witnessing in the checkout line some perceived extravagance on the part of a welfare recipient.

Do the poor have a duty to make efficient use of public aid? Doesn't the Legislature have the responsibility to mandate what common sense and decency otherwise fail to produce?

Maybe not.

Rep. Gwyndolen Clarke-Reed, a Democrat, spoke against the measure when it moved to the House. She said the government doesn't have any business telling people what they can eat. The education campaign is insulting, she said, because it suggests that the poor aren't smart enough to make their own choices.

That makes sense, too. Why should the government be able to tell people what they can eat, and aren't people smart enough to make their own choices?

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, which controls the federal food stamp program, must approve any state restrictions on purchases made with those benefits. Such approval is rare, in part out of a reluctance to unfairly stigmatize the poor by suggesting they can't make their own choices.

That's the same USDA, with plenty of prompting from the first lady, that recently tried to limit the use of potatoes and other popular foods in subsidized school lunches, and ban certain foods brought to school by parents for special celebrations. It seems local school officials and students make the wrong choices when left to their own devices.

We feel less embarrassed by our confusion knowing that the USDA holds conflicting opinions on personal responsibility and public mandates when it comes to federal nutrition programs.