Only the Amish Survive
Aside from union members with expensive health insurance plans, there is one group of Americans that will be completely free from the added burden of government expansion known as health care reform: the Amish.
Just as they have been exempted from social security and Medicare, and the correlative taxes, the Amish will not need to participate in the new government health care system if it becomes law. They will not be subjected to new mandates for coverage, nor will they be required to pay new taxes or fines. They will continue to be free to live their lives the way they wish to live them. The rest of us, however, will need to live our lives according to gratuitous laws passed by our federal government.
It was Thomas Jefferson’s dream that the United States become an agrarian society free from decadence and oppressive government, where individuals could live by their own means in the pursuit of their individual ideals of happiness. This dream was hardly realized, if ever, but the Amish appear to be the most successful at holding on to a way of life that most closely resembles Jefferson’s vision. Not only have they resisted many of the temptations of modernity and life in the big cities, but they have successfully avoided being burdened by excessive taxation and falling into the spiraling pit of accepting government handouts. It isn’t a glamorous lifestyle that the Amish live, but they are mostly free to do as they wish according to their own religious philosophies.
The rest of us should be so lucky.
Aside from the income tax, the Amish have practically little to worry about from government intrusion into their communities. However, even those taxes have little effect on people who habitually live a self-sufficient lifestyle by farming their own lands, developing various trade skills, and trading their time and products mostly within their Amish community. While they live in simplicity and freedom, most of the rest of us survive our daily grind by tip-toeing around our Big Brother and his seemingly infinite siblings – a multitude of acronym agencies operating under both our federal and state governments in an effort to raise revenues and ensure “compliance” to a plethora of absurd laws.
And we wonder why it’s so hard for most people to get ahead in life.
If our governments at all levels treated our entire citizenry like they do the Amish, would there be any question as to whether or not we could rise out of a deep recession? Would we need to spend hundreds of billions of dollars – or even trillions – on programs purportedly designed to help us get by in life? Or would we even have the need to raise that money through taxation first, before it could be redistributed? What could we accomplish as a society if we weren’t subjected to the crushing weight of excessive government taxation and bureaucracies? What could we accomplish if we were left to our own devices, living freely in what is supposed to be a free society – a society that was supposed to be free from intrusive government?
The Amish ought to be the envy of us all. We should covet their lifestyle, not because of their decision to reject most modern technologies, but because of their unwavering commitment to refuse the “helping hand” of government and to remain essentially independent from the now depraved system that is not only destroying our economy, but the very fabric of this nation.
We do not need to live in an agrarian society as Jefferson had imagined. But we do need to live with our liberties intact and with a government that is reined in by an assertive, or even an aggressive electorate. We ought to free ourselves from the burdens created and imposed by an ascendant federal government that is operating far beyond the enumerated limits of our Constitution – as they are doing with health care “reform.”
We don’t need to strive to be like the Amish. We need to strive to be treated like the Amish.
John F. Kennedy famously said, “Ask not what your country can do for you.” Instead of asking what our country can do, we ought to ask why our country is doing what it’s doing and how much it will cost us, both monetarily and with respect to our liberties, now and in the future. Ask your country – i.e. your federal government – exactly where they derive the authority to pass their incomprehensible laws. Ask them to be honest and transparent with their intentions and their legislation.
Most of all, ask them to let you be as free as the Amish; to live your life the way you want to live it, so long as you do not infringe on the inherent individual liberties of others. Then, simply ask for protection from anyone who wishes to interfere with or destroy that way of life.
That is essentially all we should ever ask from our government, because that is basically the only legitimate purpose of government.
Copyright © 2009 by RationalLiberty.com
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means without written permission by the author.
______________________________________________________________________________________
Reader Comments
I live in an area with a large Amish community. They are people who make decisions about their lives that most of us wouldn’t want to make. You are right, though, that the people of this country would be better off if government officials would treat everyone the same way as they treat the Amish.
The Amish do seem to live in an idyllic world, but they are only able to do so because they are merely a sub-culture of a modern society. Anywhere else, they would have a much harder time surviving and would lead much harder lives. Modern society supports the Amish way of life in many very important ways.