BOGUS ABC AMISH STORY. (27 OCT 2016)

There is a bogus story about the Amish giving Trump the election going around on the Internet. The story says AAB chairman Menno Simons, who represents the Amish, has set in motion 20 million Amish to vote for Trump. FALSE. There is no AAB chairman Menno Simons and there are no 20 million Amish to vote. The Amish have no organization that controls their congregations. Each congregation acts on its own, and then only with a 100% consensus!! The total population of the Amish is merely 251,000…and that is of course a guestimate. And probably half that are children. So even IF the 100,000 voting age Amish in approx. 35 states did vote (which they have never done in history) it is hardly going to win the election for Trump. It is true that the Amish heavily populate swing states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Iowa and Virginia. If they voted in Pennsylvania, it could make a difference.

The article was technically wrong that they are Protestants–they are Anabaptists…something totally different. The Anabaptists were wiped out by both the Protestants and Catholics because they do not believe in war (nor infant baptism which Lutherans, Anglicans, & Catholics all employ), which upset lots of the Protestants. It was the reason Hitler wiped them out of Nazi Germany. Can’t have any peace loving people contaminating the population! I highly doubt that the Amish are actually going to vote in this election–although it may happen on a congregation by congregation basis…or an individual by individual basis…but there is no AAB that dictates policy. It does not work that way. The closest the Amish have gotten to unified actions is to create a Steering Committee for the purpose of interacting with the Federal government on issues like allowing their boys to be conscientious objectors.

Not voting is part of the pacifistic belief system. If they did decide to actually vote–they would be fudging on their age old belief not to actively fight the World. That goes back to 1534-36 when John of Leyden & others set up a militant branch of Anabaptists in Münster. The militant branch gave the peaceful branch such a bad name to live down, they don’t even want the appearance of anything militant. However, many of the various types of Mennonite churches do participate in voting…but again the Mennonites are subdivided into countless large and small groups…some of which are also independent congregations like the Amish. Most Mennonites that are registered to vote are Republicans. From the little contact I have with such groups, Mennonite & Amish, it appears to me there are mixed feelings about Trump, but if they do decide to vote, it is most likely going to be for Trump. There are of course a number of Trump’s stands that they like. A group of individuals from both the Mennonites and some Amish got together and made a PAC that put up a bill boards in Penn. Amish country encouraging Amish to vote for Trump. I will attach a picture of one of their billboards to this article in the thread. On 5 AUG ’16 this Menn./Amish PAC said it had raised $25,000. An impressive figure considering most of its backers are small farmers and craftspersons, but hardly anything to worry the Clinton campaign.

CONCLUSION. While the millions of Mennonites & Amish lean towards Trump, they will not be voting as a block, and many will not be voting. Their vote could influence the swing states IF the votes are actually correctly counted. Note that Soros has his voting machines in these swing states. My main concern about this issue is that fact that someone wrote a totally bogus article obviously trying to con those who do not know the details. Why are we seeing these kinds of articles??…this is not the first bogus story I have seen during this campaign.