Healthcare, Hate Crimes, Horse Droppings, and More! Toward an Empirically-Grounded Amish Policy for Rural Governments

The Amish are one of the fastest growing rural populations in the United States, with a population doubling time of every 20.5 years. With this growth comes regular expansion in the form of new Amish communities. Rural... [ view full abstract ]

The Amish are one of the fastest growing rural populations in the United States, with a population doubling time of every 20.5 years. With this growth comes regular expansion in the form of new Amish communities. Rural governments, already strapped on funding, oftentimes find themselves at a loss with how to address certain legal and social issues an Amish community introduces. Ill-handled, a government may fail to defuse hostility and actually agitate it. In the name of religious freedom, they often must give up their request. However, the whole incident, in addition to creating local unrest, also fails to effect a solution.

Examples of recent conflicts include:

• Kentucky: The Village of Auburn passed an ordinance requiring Amish horses to wear defection collection devices, which many Amish resisted, resulting in over a hundred citations and fines / prison sentences. While the collection devices were to improve community aesthetics, the Amish argued that they were not practical for their horses. The ordinance was only recently repealed due to the stalemate.
• Wisconsin: Eau Claire County attempted to enforce a state-wide mandate requiring all new homes to have smoke detectors. Some Amish opposed these on religious grounds, and only after an outcry against the county barring Amish entry to their new homes did the state provide exemption. Elsewhere, after several bad buggy-auto accidents, a county board member drafted an ordinance requiring many buggy safety features, including safety belts. The meeting with this ordinance on the floor drew large crowds opposing the ordinance; it was voted down.
• Pennsylvania and Ohio: Both Hardin County, OH, and Warren County, PA, required all rural homes to hook up to rural sewer lines. To do so would require an electric pump which the Amish opposed. Hardin County and the Amish came to an agreement away from media attention while the issue in Warren County continues.
• Missouri: The Unionville hospital, a small rural facility in northern Missouri, is threatened with a lack of funding. They recently contacted plain people in the area to investigate an agreement that would provide reduced rates for the Amish, who normally do not carry insurance. However, red tape has prevented the agreement from taking effect.

After reviewing such cases, I propose a project that would pursue (1) culturally-informed understandings of the Amish, and (2) data-informed options and solutions to the conflicts. The project aims to use both qualitative and quantitative data to develop a handbook for municipalities who have Amish populations. These data will be compiled from the following both secondary sources, identifying bodies of literature that have addressed problems municipalities face but may not be obvious since these sources are not Amish-specific, and primary data in two forms: (1) interviewing and polling municipalities from across the country to identify both policies and cultural protocols that have worked, and (2) interviewing Amish to understand in more nuanced ways their perspectives on diverse issues and preferences for working with public agents.