Simple question: Are the Amish allowed to vote in national elections? That’s the factual question I’d like answered.
Opinion if I may: As a patriarchal society, are they more likely to vote for a woman or a man?
Whether they’re ALLOWED to vote I can’t say,but I do see them at the polls,especially if they have been worked up by the GOP over issues like homosexuality,which helped G.W.Bush in 2000, around here anyway.By 2004 critics were pointing out that such a choice was in violation of C.O. status so attendence was thinner.
Since the conservatives haven’t run a woman yet,your conjecture is moot,though I’d suspect a patriarchal dominance too.
Voting turnout probably has more to do with the bishop’s leanings than any ordnung.
They are ‘allowed’ to vote. They have a very very vested interest in voting, as they are very interested in certain laws and conservative political views that are friendly to them.
The whole hardcore Amish ‘thing’ is about avoiding certain technologies that anchor them to the rest of the world because those things run a risk of destroying and pulling apart their community.
So…if something is going to help preserve their community and way of life, they are ‘for’ it, more or less. Introduce something that can put their way of life, values and community at risk and the elders are likely to steer their groups away from it.
Voting would help preserve their community, although it is likely they are always choosing the lesser of two evils, in their view. But, locally, the political choices they make are probably much more important and candidates much more relevant.
Google ‘amish voting’ and you’ll notice that their votes are actually making national news.
Sorry in advance if this is a deeply stupid question, but would the Amish be allowed by their religion to use an electronic voting machine?
When I was a college I did my photojournalism class project down in my grandpa’s neighborhood in “Amish country.” One of my best shots was of an “I Voted Today” sticker on the reflector triangle on the back of a buggy. Lots of people were surprised to see that Amish folks vote.
Yes definitely. They can use electricity (and phones and cars) just not own/pay for them.
Gotcha, thanks.
They can even own/pay for it, as long as it’s on a non-dependence on the outside basis.
For example, my dad had some Amish friends, and they had a generator for electric lighting and pasteurizing equipment for their dairy barn…and plenty of windows and old-fashioned cold storage, so they didn’t absolutely need it, and no grid power so they had an immediate reminder (in diesel fuel) of how much money they needed relative to the increase in milk production efficiency.
I believe that the actual criteria (disclaimer: I am not Amish!) is that they eschew any technology that leads them away from their values. For instance, you don’t own a car because they encourage you to travel far away from the community to live and shop. You don’t have electricity coming in from the electric company because it requires you to be constantly paying an outside source for it. You don’t buy electronic gadgets because they’re an unnecessary indulgence.
The point (at least with the Amish and apologists for Amish values I’ve seen) is not that they can or cannot do X, it’s that they want to avoid anything that fosters a dependence on technology they cannot make themselves. It’s a pragmatic, flexible standard, not because they compromise, but because the way it’s applied is to minimize the intrusion of what goes against their values. What is “minimal” will vary with the circumstance.
When the shooting on Amish country happened some months back, people were intrigued by the fact that Amish would send critically injured people to the hospital in ambulances or helicopters. Well, yeah, the object there is speed in getting someone dying to medical help that can save their lives – and that’s in accord with that principle. You don’t need a high-speed car to go shopping when a horse-and-buggy will do; you do need a high speed ambulance when someone’s dying. If electrical power is necessary for something they feel important to do, there’s no “rule” against it – only that principle of minimal impact. (I believe the example I saw cited was a family with someone in medical need of some electrically-powered gizmo on a daily basis.)
After posting the above, I looked at another board I visit from time to time, and found the following posted by a lovely and gracious lady of my online acquaintance, an Anglican from British Columbia:
Given the number of Mennonites there are in Vancouver, she likely sees dozens of Mennonite ladies in the downtown core every day. Most of them just don’t dress distinctively, is all. Also of note is that the vast majority of Mennonites in those parts are of the Dutch/North German > Prussia > Ukraine > North America group, which is somewhat distinct from the Swiss/South German > Pennsylvania & area group. There are a few amongst the former who go in for plain dress and head coverings, but none that I know of have much if any proclivity for avoiding technology. Horse and buggy-type Mennonites are pretty much exclusively from the latter group. Plain dress and a cell phone don’t strike me as incongruous at all.
This was generally not the case until 2004, when the Republican party mounted a sustained effort to get the Amish to register and vote . . . primarily to reelect Bush and to pass Ohio’s anti-same-sex marriage amendment.
I drove through Amish country during that time, and almost every house had a “VOTE YES ON ISSUE #1” (the anti-same-sex marriage initiative) sign on their front lawn; and on a few buggies too. Some variations on the sign were “VOTE YES ON ISSUE #1: SAVE OUR CHILDREN” AND “VOTE YES ON ISSUE #1: SAVE OUR SCHOOLS.” At first I thought maybe they had a different “Issue #1” down there, but no, it was the same.
Supposedly, it was the rural vote that gave Ohio to Bush.
I know they can go up in the St. Louis Gateway Arch. Saw them there a couple years ago. Or maybe that was members of a “badass” branch of the Amish?
My B-I-L is very good friends with a number of Amish in southern Ohio. Through him I’ve met a couple of them when he took them to Colorado to go elk hunting.
Here’s what I’ve gleaned from him about the Amish living in Ohio:
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Some of them have phones and I’ve talked to them. They just don’t have them in the house. They are out by the road on a pole, sort of like the folks on Green Acres.
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The idea, as I understand it, is that they don’t want anything connecting them to the outside world in thier houses.
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They can fly, but only in an emergency.
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They can ride in cars. The two who visited with us said their parents and another couple went to Alaska. They rented a van and hired a man to drive. It was a pretty sweet deal for him as they paid all his expenses. He was a retired man in the neighborhood who made a little cash by driving them wherever they wanted to go.
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They use credit cards.
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They don’t buy insurance. If they get sick they just pay. If it’s more than they have the community helps.
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While the ones I’ve met have been big on the Amish looking clothes they don’t have a problem with getting their tennis shoes at the Wal-Mart.
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They have refrigeraters and freezers that run off propane. We ordered pizza when they were visiting. The young Amish boys (20ish) didn’t seem too excited. It turns out that the only pizza they knew about were the seriously cardboard ones the the Schwanz man delivered. They thought the Pizza-Hut thick crust pizza totally rocked.
Polycarp’s post was pretty much on the money, as usual.
I think that most of the English just don’t understand the reasons why the Amish make the choices they do. Once you start understanding that they put maintaining family and community over convenience it starts to make more sense.
For example, about those phones… phones are undeniably useful in emergencies but they are NOT for casual use. Hence, put them outside at some distance from the house. In an emergency you’ll run through a foot of snow at ten below zero to call 911 and save a life but you won’t be spending hours out there chatting with Aunt Susie. If you want to socialize do it in person, and don’t exclude the others in the room. As another example, a Amish person who needs an organ transplant might be able to justify having a cellphone in the house because of their debilitated state and the necessity of being notified promptly and getting to the hospital quickly.
The Amish will use electricity if it’s required as part of their employment. If they are in a public waiting room they are permitted to look at a TV that happens to be on in the room. They can use synthetic fabrics and modern medicine. As already pointed out, in emergency the use of cars and even helicopters are perfectly acceptable. If an Amish person required a ventilator to stay alive they would certainly have electricity in the home to run it (though whether they’d use a generator or the grid is a good question). Amish men can use battery-powered razors and use solar panels to charge those batteries.
Also, each Amish community sets it’s own rules, so what is acceptable in one Amish settlement is not in another.
This reminds me of when my mom used to bartend, and old Amish men and boys would come into the bar for lunch. The old guys would order a draft beer and a hamburger, and the boys would order cheeseburgers or chicken fingers and many, many Mountain Dews, and get a little squirrelly. The old guys would just roll their eyes and enjoy their burgers until it was time to go.
Things obviously may have changed in recent years (as in the 2004 presidential election), but at least in the Seventies, when the Supreme Court decided several Amish-related cases, IIRC, the Amish tended to vote only on local issues or for local candidates when the election touched upon their land values or farming practices.
I’m a little fuzzy on this generator thing. It frees you from depending on the electric grid, but then you need diesel fuel, and I’ve never heard of any Amish petroleum refineries.
I’d guess diesel is OK with the Amish because it’s a provision, not a service. But then if diesel is OK, why can’t they drive diesel cars? 
Oh, I forgot, it’s religion, it doesn’t have to make sense. :smack: