Today I'll be answering another question from the ones I received back in April.
Given the current political unrest, how much attention do the Amish pay to the election, and to government in general?
I generally shy away from the topic of politics here on my blog, but decided I'll address this question.
This can't be answered in a one size fits all type of way. In some communities the Amish are blissfully unaware of what's going on, and may only have a vague idea who our current president is, a name they might have heard in passing, but it meant nothing to them.
For those, they pay no attention to the elections or to government in general. All they want is to be left alone to live their life as they believe they were called to.
For some others, they will subscribe to a daily newspaper to stay aware of everything that is going on. They will pay a lot of attention to the candidates running for election, and will make sure they vote.
Then there are a lot that fall somewhere in between. They have a general idea what's going on, but believe since they are not a part of this world, they will let the world take care of all things government, while they focus on a kingdom not of this world.
I was always under the impression that Amish don't vote. This was surprising to me to learn that some do.
ReplyDeleteI guess they're more like everyone else than expected. There are a lot of other Americans who choose not to vote, and are sadly lacking when it comes to knowledge about politics.
Well,truth be told, there are a lot of Americans who are unaware of what is going on in the world and they don't even live under any religious convictions- sad but true. Amish are like any other group of people, the good, the bad and the ugly... They are human just like the rest of us. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWould you say they would typically vote Republican? I am CDN and this election fascinates me more than most as Trump is not your typical republican candidate. I have wondered if all Conservative Christians would vote Republican because they always vote that way or if they would vote based on the issues of the day. I would assume the Amish - being the most conservative would vote republican but I may be wrong. Our last election had many conservative Christians voting liberal because of the candidate. It was interesting.
ReplyDeleteI'm not Amish, but I am a registered Republican who is a conservative Christian. Once again, I find that I don't have a presidential candidate to vote for in either of the two major political parties. I'm considering voting for the Libertarian party candidate, but I have to do more research first.
DeleteThis was quite interesting Mary Ann. I guess I always thought that most Amish didn't vote at all either. I understand your reluctance to discuss politics on your blog. It's not a subject I bring up on mine either. This year the topic seems to be even more volatile. Thanks for the insight.
ReplyDeleteBlessings,
Betsy