Real World Amish Examples
[Angelo Matera  03/10 09:57 AM]

Rod, these comments from a story about the Amish and their struggle to maintain an agrarian way of life lends support to Joel Salatin’s view of the inherent value of farm life. The entire article shows how the Amish are dealing with almost every issue you raise in your book — a Crunchy Con microcosm:

[When] Eighty-year-old Emanuel Hershberger … was younger, 90 percent of the Amish there were full-time farmers. Now about 10 percent are, he said. … “The cost of farming got to a place where they couldn’t make a living anymore,” he said. [They have been] forced out of agriculture because of land prices, the large startup investment required and the Amish population growth. “The shift from farm to non-farm employment is the biggest social change in the last century in Amish life…”

The loss of farming deprives the Amish of some of their cultural bonds, including the opportunity to work together. … Outside jobs hamper other traditions, like eating every meal together as a family. “My parents wouldn’t have thought about not having three meals a day (together),” Hershberger said.

....About 90 percent of Amish youth remain with the church, the highest percentage since at least the 1930s. ….With the population doubling every 20 years, in another century the Amish could number more than 5.7 million, which is about half of Ohio’s current population. Kline doubts that they will continue to grow at that clip. “My guess is we’ll be influenced by larger society and have smaller families,” he said. About 20 percent of Amish businesses are owned by women, which also could impact family size, Kraybill said.

Kline is a well-read Amish man with copies of “Fast Food Nation” and other mainstream books in his home. … [He] believes Amish youth will continue to keep the faith even as the outside world changes around them. “As the American family disintegrates ... I think more young people will want to stay for the security and the values that are being taught,” he said.