Many of the Amish in Pennsylvania and Ohio simply won't be voting come November, despite the fact that, living in the eastern part of the country, their votes would actually count - unlike the situation for those of us on the left coast, as election results are announced before our votes are even tabulated. But they are extremely conservative.
They're also patriarchal; if they had their druthers, then, they certainly wouldn't like to see Pantsuit in office. Trump, some opine, is at least a businessman - and that's something the Amish respect, if insufficient to motivate them to vote.
"I don't vote; I'm just not interested," says Sam, an Amish craftsman from Lancaster County. Like many in the community, Sam did not want to use his full name - a common habit among the Amish, who shy away from public attention, particularly outside of their communities
Similarly, Freida, 18, who works at an ice cream shop in a neighbouring village, says that while she does have concerns about the next four years, ultimately, the election "is up to God", which is why she won't be voting.
Not to burst Freida's bubble, but it seems unlikely that God has anything to do with this election - although it's entirely possible that a different entity may have had a hand in it.
In related news, the Amish have traditionally been left alone but are now increasingly running afoul of government regulations involving everything from failing to attach manure bags to the butts of their horses to failing to install smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in their homes. And although reluctant to get involved with the legal system, they have on occasion done so, and have achieved some positive results not only for themselves and their communities, but for the nation as a whole:
His group defended the Amish in the landmark 1972 Supreme Court case Yoder v. Wisconsin, which paved the way for Amish religious exemptions from the higher grades of formal education. The ruling also strengthened the home-school movement in the U.S., he said.
He said that while the Amish are generally averse to litigation, they will often go along if they see some greater good involved.
“When I took Wisconsin v. Yoder, I went there and said, ‘I’d like to defend you. Look at it this way — I believe you’d be of help to many people if you’d allow us to use your case to make a ruling.’ It used to be illegal to home-school. That Amish case has helped thousands of people who are not Amish. That is the only way I was able to persuade the Amish to take their case,” he said.
Today, home-schooling is not only on the rise, home-schooled kids are frequently taking first place in education-based competitions. The teacher's unions lost big on that one. It used to be that home-schooling was the only schooling. In later years, townspeople pooled their money to pay for a teacher to come live in their towns and educate their children. As towns became cities, tax-funded education districts were formed.
Then came the unions, who successfully pushed to get home-schooling made illegal - mainly because the more students a district could retain by mandate, the more tax money they could extract. Education became secondary, and it remains secondary to this day:
ALOHA, Ore. — Some parents in Aloha are concerned about a "white privilege" survey their children received as homework.
Jason Schmidt's son, a senior at Aloha High School, was given the survey as homework. Schmidt said he's not too happy about the form.
"I think he should be learning actual education and not be a part of some social experiment or some teacher's political agenda," Schmidt said.
"With the amount of money we pay for schools, they should be educating not indoctrinating our students about the latest political fad or political agenda a teacher wants to get across," Schmidt said.
Among the statements in the "survey":
I can go shopping alone, pretty well assured that I won't be followed or hassled.
I can turn on the television and see people of my race widely and positively represented.
No wonder more families are turning back to home-schooling.
