Hello, I'm from the Bush 2004 campaign....
Posted on 08/05/2004 1:13:59 PM PDT by wagglebee
BIRD-IN-HAND, Pa. - The Amish live without electricity, cars, telephones, and usually, without voting. But they are being sought out this year as Republicans try to sign up every possible supporter in presidential battleground states.
Amish almost always side with the Republican Party when they do vote - making them an attractive, if unlikely, voting bloc in the neck-and-neck campaign between President Bush and Democratic nominee John Kerry. A majority of the nation's Amish live in key swing states like Pennsylvania and Ohio.
"Pennsylvania and Ohio are just absolute battleground states, and to think that the Amish could weigh in to the tune of thousands of votes that are clearly going to be Republican - that could be very significant for Bush," said Chet Beiler, a former Amish who has been dropping off voter registration forms at Amish businesses and farms in hopes of signing up as many as 3,000 new voters.
As pacifists, most Amish avoid political activity that they believe would link them even indirectly with government-sponsored violence. But hot-button social issues, coupled with gentle prompting from people like Beiler, are galvanizing some Amish to register to vote.
"We hate that abortion issue," said Sam Stolztfus, 60, an Amish farmer and gazebo maker in Pennsylvania's Lancaster County, where an estimated 27,000 Amish live. "We're totally against it. And as far as gay issues, that's completely contrary to the Bible."
The bearded Stolztfus proudly says the Amish are "sort of swept up with Bush fever."
"You could hold up a dead mouse with a sign 'I love Bush' and we'd still probably think twice about stomping that mouse underfoot."
An estimated 180,000 Amish live in 28 states and Ontario. They are a reserved, Christian subculture in rural areas who descend from Swiss Germans and settled in Lancaster County in the early 1700s as part of William Penn's "holy experiment" in religious tolerance. The Amish do not drive cars, watch TV or use telephones in their homes, and are instantly recognizable by their horse-driven buggies and plain garb, bonnets and straw hats.
Physically casting a ballot will not be a problem for Amish in Lancaster County, where mechanical lever voting machines are still used.
"Their basic political inclinations are traditional and conservative," said Don Kraybill, a sociologist of Anabaptist studies at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster. "Although the Amish are not politically active, they make an enticing target for Republicans, politically, because they are likely going to vote Republican."
But experts believe fewer than 10 percent of Amish ever vote, and the prospect of them turning out in great numbers in November is "not going to happen," Kraybill said. "These things occur gradually, over 30 to 40 years - not quickly."
Neither presidential campaign is targeting the Amish, although Bush privately met with about 30 Amish during a July 9 campaign trip through Lancaster County. Earlier this year, the Bush administration relaxed federal labor laws to let Amish teenagers work near dangerous woodworking machines. The Amish had lobbied for the changes for years.
Democrats have all but ceded the Amish vote to Republicans.
"If I know Republicans and their grass-roots operations, they'll spend most of their time trying to phone bank the Amish," said Kerry spokesman Mark Nevins.
Not all Amish are comfortable with the Bush administration - particularly the president's decision to invade Iraq. But John Fisher, who welds iron products in Lancaster and is father of seven children, said Bush's "focus on the family" will win his vote.
Of the war, "something needed to be done," said Fisher, a member of Lancaster's Amish community. "I don't agree with war at all. But he had to do what he had to do."
In Ohio, Amish have begun reaching out to the state Republican Party to learn more about Bush, said party spokesman Jason Mauk. An estimated 55,000 Amish live in Ohio - more than in any other state.
"A lot of Amish Ohioans respect the president as a man of faith and someone who leads with conviction," Mauk said. "These are people who care about our religious freedom and the moral fabric of society. That's motivating a lot of Amish to do what they have not done before, and reach out to us to start a dialogue."
A friend of mine who is Mennonite went to visit some of his Amish relatives. He was standing around with a bunch of the menfolk when he heard a ringing noise. All of the men started pulling cordless phones out of their coveralls.
Does the headline of this article imply that President Bush is so desparate he is trolling for votes? It seems to slant that way to me. Hope dishonest!
jejones wrote:
Yes, he is; the Kerry spokesman's implication is that Republicans are too stupid to know that and would thus try to call Amish people on the phone.
Hello, I'm from the Bush 2004 campaign....
If they are Amish, they won't vote. If they modernize, they will. I kind of like the old Amish, just for traditional reasons. My family were Amish up until the late 1800's.
ROFLMAO!
They can if they have someone do it for them under their direction.
They milk their cows (at least the ones I have known) with milking machines and such. And they must cool their milk in modern bulk tanks. They hire out any other modern things such as spraying their fields etc.
They should not be confused with Mennonites either. Both are extremely hard working and trustworthy folks..and are a real hard to deal with as far as trading and such.
Actually, . . . there are different grades of Amish. Most have made some sort of compromise, especially in Lancaster County. No TV or movies, but they'll have a car or a phone. But a large portion of the traditional ones will not have their own phone. They are not shy about using somebody else's, though. And the pastors will allow a lot of leeway for businesses that deal with the English so you will see a traditional Amishman with a fax machine in his workshop, but not in his home.
I feel like Sally Field. Not Gidget or the Flying Nun, but the serious actress.
I am in the neighboring township to B-in-H and I know where Sam Stoltzfus' shop is! Of course I can't tell that it's him, there could be more than one.
I guess I would be surprised if the Amish voted, and especially voted for Bush. Not that I know there stands on issues but if they are like the Mennonites they would be anti-war, pro-abortion(first term only) and communal which is why I am not a Mennonite anymore.
I bet they won't use touch screen voting machines.
My sister lives in Evart Mi. there are a lot of Amish in that area as well. There is an Amish owened factory there that makes vinyl windoframes.
The Amana colonists are a lot like the Amish, they were the first to make Amana appliances.
Very cool!
Thank you!
Ummmm... regarding your post below... Why Sally Field?
I'd think if nothing else you would want access in case of a fire or other tragedy.
I think you are confusing this with some other religious group. The Amish and Mennonites own their property individually. At least, all my maternal grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins did, even those that stayed within Old Order ordnungs (sp?).
Good reply and accurate.
I live in a rural area w/a lot of Amish. Originally, the area Amish were of the *shoeless* (traditional) variety. But the elders are not ignorant and not hidebound, from what I can tell & I see a slow evolution in their thinking. We have a medical massage practice and we have several families as clients. Originally one of the elders called us, on the phone, BTW, and wanted to know what *spirit massage* might be. Seems he needed new reading glasses and had misread our ad for *sport massage*. He apologized and laughed at himself. Had it been *spirit massage*, however, he would have been against it. We assured him, we would be, as well!
The phones are, as you say, in the outhouse or the shop or in a booth at the corner and they have voice mail and faxes for the businesses, too. I can see where cells would be popular, but in our valleys, they are still unreliable. The younger men can drive until they are married and virtually run taxi services. One gentleman told us the prohibitions are as much about keeping the family together as about any technophobia.
Some families are quite well-off and have flush toilets; they just fill the tank from a cistern and have a holding tank instead of a septic tank. The banks now require they keep the lines to any house they buy if they have a mortgage, as it devalues the place if they tear out the electricity and phone lines and is so expensive to replace if they sell to an English. They listen to the radio and read newspapers.
We find them well-read, well-informed and surprisingly well-traveled. The women are concerned with diet and exercise. They ae mostly a pleasant group.
One funny story: back in 1999, one of our Amish clients asked us if Y2K was going to affect them! We told them that they were going to be the best situated of anyone to deal with it, if it actually happened. I still find an aversion to computers, even for the businesses and don't know if that is changing. I wouldn't expect them to care for the internet.
The young people, of course, make their choice after a runaround period. We see them in a local restuarant with parkas over their traditional clothing or having changed into jeans and sweat shirt, with the blue or black dresses in a Walmart bag. They have opened an Amish walmart here and everyone who has shopped there is impressed with variety of goods that they use and the good prices. Many still go to the regular Walmart.
We had a recent scandal involving sexual abuse of young girls. Amish are just people and come in varieties, like everyone else.
We have Mennonite families, too and they are much more liberal: women drive and they wear flowered dresses. I don't know any of the Mennonites, though. They are referred to here as *Amish with tractors*, but it goes deeper than that from what I can tell.
Are you really Amish or is it just a screen name?
I'm assuming you live somewhere near LaCrosse/Viroqua?
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