We could learn a lot from the Amish Community

[Dicedspam]

As an accountant I deal with a lot of financial information. I learned something new a few days ago and thought if communities would enact similar things we could eliminate our need for more government.

As you may know, the Amish help those in their community. House burnt down, no problem, they all come together and build you a new one in 10 days. What I learned the other day is that Amish do not buy insurance; they see it as a form of gambling. So when someone racks up $100,000 at the hospital the church pays off what the family cant afford.

What if we applied these ideals to every community. The church doesn't have to be the vehicle for payment. People in managing positions will be volunteers. We could eliminate two things:

1. Overgrown government. Everyone looks to the government for help. It's has grown way to much. I'd gladly donate 2% of my income to a fund rather than see my taxes go up 2%. Our government is inefficient and wasteful. I believe a lot of people think this way. They would rather donate their money than have the government take it. They get a choice in where it goes.

2. Insurance company reliance. Insurance companies have ruined affordable healthcare in America. I hear people blame Dr salaries and upgraded hospitals more than they blame greedy insurance companies.

We have a lot of charities in America and we are a very giving nation. This isn't a charity. This is coming together as a community. Giving back to those in need on a more consistent basis. I don't want more government in my life. It's why I didn't vote for Senator Sanders. We could learn a lot from a community that is usually the butt of jokes and most see as weird people stuck in the 1800s.

Side note:. If you donate to charity be sure to check their filings for excessive executive pay.

[Deleted]

Good idea, comrade.

[Puupi]

Ever heard of "taxes", "social security" and "universal healthcare"?

[Deleted]

Commie socialists helping each other. They neex to get with the times and be cool capitalist and exploit their neighbours as much as possible.

[Revi]

A government is how the community comes together to share resources and get things done that they couldn't do as individuals without organization.

It's just a lot bigger and has more functions because the community it represents is nation-sized.

[Deleted]

I think their are several things to learn from the Amish and also interesting view on how tight communities work together,

But in your example the church acts as the goverment. I'm not sure if in oyur example you meant an overarching amish church thats linked to several amish villages or the church of one amish village/community.

But what your proposing is relocation national goverment aspect to more local goverment aspects.
I just think that such community bondage only works if it's under a certain amount of people. So don't know if it would work in cities and what kind community binding youd have in cities if church isn't possible.

[Dezerte]

I think you should try and solve the root issues instead, i.e. corruption, lobbying and the like.

[Darsithis]

I don't think you can apply the Amish to a nation of nearly 400m people. What works in a local area with a small, homogenous group doesn't work for something so diverse as the United States.

Also, fuck the Amish for their dog breeding. Those assholes breed thousands of puppy mill dogs in crates (never leaving the crate) until they're worn out, then they're killed and thrown away. I donate to charities that try to buy up the dogs before they're too far gone and legally fight the Amish puppy mills.

[petej0]

As an accountant I deal with a lot of financial information. I learned something new a few days ago and thought if communities would enact similar things we could eliminate our need for more government.

As you may know, the Amish help those in their community. House burnt down, no problem, they all come together and build you a new one in 10 days. What I learned the other day is that Amish do not buy insurance; they see it as a form of gambling. So when someone racks up $100,000 at the hospital the church pays off what the family cant afford.

What if we applied these ideals to every community. The church doesn't have to be the vehicle for payment. People in managing positions will be volunteers. We could eliminate two things:

1. Overgrown government. Everyone looks to the government for help. It's has grown way to much. I'd gladly donate 2% of my income to a fund rather than see my taxes go up 2%. Our government is inefficient and wasteful. I believe a lot of people think this way. They would rather donate their money than have the government take it. They get a choice in where it goes.

To be honest you are describing Government. Yeah, we all donate into a fund, that fund has to be managed, so those people managing it will require a salary so that takes money off the top. Add a few decades and you have an out of control bloated agency.

2. Insurance company reliance. Insurance companies have ruined affordable healthcare in America. I hear people blame Dr salaries and upgraded hospitals more than they blame greedy insurance companies.

We have a lot of charities in America and we are a very giving nation. This isn't a charity. This is coming together as a community. Giving back to those in need on a more consistent basis. I don't want more government in my life. It's why I didn't vote for Senator Sanders. We could learn a lot from a community that is usually the butt of jokes and most see as weird people stuck in the 1800s.

Health care is not affordable because hospitals charge $50 for a single dose of ibuprofen and insurance negotiates it down to $20. If car insurance coverage worked like health insurance coverage we would be paying $320 for oil changes.

Side note:. If you donate to charity be sure to check their filings for excessive executive pay.

See my first point about bloat.

[Biomega]

Systems don't simply scale up to infinity without changes. Their methods are founded on principles of community inextricably linked to personal connections - I'm sure you can see this isn't feasible for even a city, let alone an entire nation. If my brother asks me to help him move, I do it for free without a second thought. If some stranger comes over to me on the street and asks me to help him move, I present a taser and a restraining order and ask which one he'd like to meet first.

And to be fair, at the base level their systems are just what sensible governments put in place anyway. Their "the church pays everything you can't" model obviously doesn't create free money, because people pay into the church as well. Guess how insurance works, or taxes, or whatever. It's just more complicated to ensure fairness, which they can skip due to personal connections. If anything, it's socially enforced charity - and that is not without its problems either, as individual members don't exactly have much choice over their life plans if they want to keep enjoying the benefits. Try being an atheist computer programmer in an Amish community.

Yes it's admirable that they are by and large hard-working, friendly, charitable people - and we could do well to try and be more of that. But don't just gloss over what makes these social systems of theirs work and why. It's not simply transferable to other contexts.

[Independent voter]

Back in the 1800's there were a lot of utopias set up in the US. Europeans came here because of the cheap land and they would buy land and set up communes and utopian communities.

The only successful utopias were the religious ones, people get mad when they perceive themselves doing all the work while others laze around.

[Ghostpanther]

I have had several dealings with the Amish. Mostly good ones. They are not perfect by any means, but are generally the most honest and peaceful people you can be around. But it is good to keep mind they are motivated by something the great majority of people do not have. So their style of society can only work if the great majority are driven by the same type of motivation.

[Rudkobing]

Fuck the Amish.

[Ghostpanther]

Fuck the Amish.

Such reactions only confirms why they are like they are.

[GennGreymane]

Nah

they got long beards, and I adopted the Amish life, my beard only looks decent when its short.

[Ghostpanther]

I don't think you can apply the Amish to a nation of nearly 400m people. What works in a local area with a small, homogenous group doesn't work for something so diverse as the United States.

Also, fuck the Amish for their dog breeding. Those assholes breed thousands of puppy mill dogs in crates (never leaving the crate) until they're worn out, then they're killed and thrown away. I donate to charities that try to buy up the dogs before they're too far gone and legally fight the Amish puppy mills.

Have never heard that about them. It is also good to keep in mind there are more than type or sect of Amish. Some are Old Order Amish and some are more worldly. And they are sometimes confused with the Mennonites.

But I agree, that is just wrong and those who do the puppy breeding like that should be condemned.

[Docturphil]

As an accountant I deal with a lot of financial information. I learned something new a few days ago and thought if communities would enact similar things we could eliminate our need for more government.

As you may know, the Amish help those in their community. House burnt down, no problem, they all come together and build you a new one in 10 days. What I learned the other day is that Amish do not buy insurance; they see it as a form of gambling. So when someone racks up $100,000 at the hospital the church pays off what the family cant afford.

What if we applied these ideals to every community. The church doesn't have to be the vehicle for payment. People in managing positions will be volunteers. We could eliminate two things:

1. Overgrown government. Everyone looks to the government for help. It's has grown way to much. I'd gladly donate 2% of my income to a fund rather than see my taxes go up 2%. Our government is inefficient and wasteful. I believe a lot of people think this way. They would rather donate their money than have the government take it. They get a choice in where it goes.

2. Insurance company reliance. Insurance companies have ruined affordable healthcare in America. I hear people blame Dr salaries and upgraded hospitals more than they blame greedy insurance companies.

We have a lot of charities in America and we are a very giving nation. This isn't a charity. This is coming together as a community. Giving back to those in need on a more consistent basis. I don't want more government in my life. It's why I didn't vote for Senator Sanders. We could learn a lot from a community that is usually the butt of jokes and most see as weird people stuck in the 1800s.

Side note:. If you donate to charity be sure to check their filings for excessive executive pay.

It works for the Amish because they're a small community and they all share the same ideas. You cannot possibly get something like that to work on a large scale without some form of government.

[Ghostpanther]

It works for the Amish because they're a small community and they all share the same ideas. You cannot possibly get something like that to work on a large scale without some form of government.

It would not work for them ether if they did not share the same vision.

[IIamaKing]

They also believe in the power of prayer, easy to pay medical bills when you have none because you all sit and pray while the cancer eats you alive. Or that 18th century dental care they have, I love the idea of anesthetic free whole mouth extraction @ 13.

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Nah

they got long beards, and I adopted the Amish life, my beard only looks decent when its short.

I cant even grow a beard ( I know shameful) Pretty sure they wouldnt even have me Or I'd have to be an Amish lady. Not even sure how a beardless man would fit into that society.

[zenkai]

As an accountant I deal with a lot of financial information. I learned something new a few days ago and thought if communities would enact similar things we could eliminate our need for more government.

As you may know, the Amish help those in their community. House burnt down, no problem, they all come together and build you a new one in 10 days. What I learned the other day is that Amish do not buy insurance; they see it as a form of gambling. So when someone racks up $100,000 at the hospital the church pays off what the family cant afford.

What if we applied these ideals to every community. The church doesn't have to be the vehicle for payment. People in managing positions will be volunteers. We could eliminate two things:

1. Overgrown government. Everyone looks to the government for help. It's has grown way to much. I'd gladly donate 2% of my income to a fund rather than see my taxes go up 2%. Our government is inefficient and wasteful. I believe a lot of people think this way. They would rather donate their money than have the government take it. They get a choice in where it goes.

2. Insurance company reliance. Insurance companies have ruined affordable healthcare in America. I hear people blame Dr salaries and upgraded hospitals more than they blame greedy insurance companies.

We have a lot of charities in America and we are a very giving nation. This isn't a charity. This is coming together as a community. Giving back to those in need on a more consistent basis. I don't want more government in my life. It's why I didn't vote for Senator Sanders. We could learn a lot from a community that is usually the butt of jokes and most see as weird people stuck in the 1800s.

Side note:. If you donate to charity be sure to check their filings for excessive executive pay.

I learned from the Amish that if you don't label your shit you can face 40+ years in prison.

http://www.wkyt.com/content/news/WKY...411915635.html