I am going into this with no practical experience of the Amish as a group but I find them fascinating for a multitude of reasons as is there blend of some or non modern technology.
You pretty much hit the nail on the head. Larping like it's 1800 is only possible because America has the rest of the world by the balls due in no small part to technological advancements. How would the Amish deal with drone warfare? How would they deal with Chinese facial recognition optics? Would they be good statesmen to deal with the rest of the world? Somehow I doubt it. It's always seemed a bit churlish to reject the very things that allow you to continue to pretend like nothing has changed, since those things are the only reason why you're safe enough to do so in the first place.
Communities like the Amish exist outside of America they are just normally smaller or more spread out, America is weird because these groups exist and have existed for a long time in numbers but it's mostly because they keep to less populated areas and don't really give a toss about the world outside there direct area, it's just a more extreme version of the pre-smart phone era where most people watched / listened / read the news assessed it an said This impacts me or this doesnt impact me at all an fucked off to do something else - today we are bombarded with news that has no fucking effect on us so ever Tom, Dick an Harry has an opinion on the riots in East Bumfuckistan and a more motile population globally has meant that Police in London, Berlin, New York etc have to deal with the fallout of a decision or event made the other side of the globe there was always some of this like in 1939 some Polish lads kicked the shit out of some German lads (both born in England) when Germany invaded Poland an the Polish lads also did that to the Russians as well but this wasn't endless months of protests, years of yapping an meaningless displays it was a couple of dosen lads at most getting beer'd up a fighting each other.
The Amish just focus (
an please correct me if I am wrong about this) tend to focus on more impactful events i.e. local, then regional then national, then international and unless something is going to directly impact them they value it as mostly meaningless an move on with there day rather than opening there Twatter / Facebook etc an talking out of their rectum for a cause they know nothing about.
I am a simple man. I hate the Amish for being Dutch.
*checks wikipedia*
Oh, Swiss? Well either way they don't make chocolate so why have them around?
So they get to be French and German at the same time? all the negatives and non of the benifits I guess.
Their whole "Year with the English" thing where they send their kids once they are close to being adults to spend a while with the non-Amish and see the other side is honestly genius. Instead of trying to fight human nature and control teenagers they give them a designated rebelion moment where they can just ignore most of the rules and try out different things while avoiding the clash between parents and tradition vs. children and change.
Most of them end up coming back to the community which is a good sign it works.
I don't know the inn's an outs of this but I find the concept really interesting, a short period of your life where you can go into the wider world and learn how the other side lives and short of a few serious moral or social (and secular) rules go as wild as you like and when you have it out of your system you can come back home no harm no foul and if you don't come back well sorry we lost you.
Lots of cultures had an have coming of age rituals where a young man would go off and either fight or work outside his community (Journeymen where the medieval an early industrial era version of this as where professional armies) you came home an did good? Brilliant, Left home moved away became a respected man in other places? Brilliant we love you an please come an visit, left home got pissed in a pub an got stabbed by prostitute? Yea you left home an that's all we know etc.
That Amish butter isn’t worth much if you can’t find someone with a refrigerated truck to buy it and sell it in normal grocery stores. Ditto their furniture and quilts - handmade, yes, heirloom quality, yes, but it doesn’t work as a method of supporting oneself unless you’re selling outside the ghetto.
Undoubtedly they are making hay while the sun shines from selling stuff far an wide, they are just doing it with more traditional skills, I can't talk for other trades but I can for my own as a smith, Historically say before the year 1000 you needed a population of about 300 before your community earned a resident Smith, and even then he wasn't a full time smith (however Farms, Smiths, Publicans an Prostitutes where the first static trades) smaller communities relied on journeymen or the local guy who wanted to be a smith but couldn't but's watched them work and talked to them in the Pub an has some tools an is willing to give it a go.
Now say your a young man out in the world having fun find a place you really like, maybe a woman you really like so you come back and find you do your best work here an you also charge less for it, it's so beneficial for you to settle down in the town hell some will even sponsor your masterwork to say "We have our own Master Smith"sounds all peachy for the smith doesnt it? Well not really, he had duitys the other way, you had to do so much free or cost work for the area, take on a local apprentice (you still had powers to dismiss them if needed but you had to have one or for so many years) locals took precedence over any other outside work and maybe some trades too get higher priority, etc but your limit of influence was roughly 5 - 15 miles generally once settled but your options and choices with less impact carry a range of 100 or so square miles and ever other Smith along the way has to make accommodations for you so life can be very cheap and you get less hastle than most if the local vagabonds require my fellow brother in arts services, but stabillity an endless hours carrying a heavy load isn't all that fun, etc.
They are essentially drop shipping for Etsy and Luddites, but there business an livelihoods are also not constrained by whimsy across the globe, they can scale back very quickly and grow or put that excess into non perishable stores, or refining what they have an not getting silly with the excess, so they have flexibility over a reliance on excess.
Dont get me wrong there is a vast oversimplification going on here but while the community has serious issues that need to be solved such as forced marriage, incest, domestic violence, etc while they themselves might have problems they have some admirable qualities too that I think we could and should learn from.
