Madison Co. Virginia | Glendon_B - 1/30/2024 10:19
Do you feel the same way about Mennonites? A lot of us are SS exempt too. But we refuse government handouts of any kind, so for that reason, our farm is not enrolled in the Dairy Margin Coverage program. A consultant told me our 120 cow dairy farm lost at least $150,000 over the last 5 years and who knows how much more we will lose over the next couple years by not being part of that program. How is that an automatic profit level above other dairy farmers?
What gets me about the Amish though is how they expect non-Amish to help them pay their bills through benefit auctions when they have a fire or accident. They expect us to do favors for them just because they are Amish.
There's widespread variation on this. I'm part of a Beachy church, which is of Amish origin, but looks Mennonite to the outside observer. Most of us are not SS exempt, and we do take government handouts including DMC. This has caused some issues in the past, since we have a lot of folks moving in from other groups. Some of those are SS-exempt, and the church has widely varied responsibilities to different members depending on whether that member has access to SS funds or not.
I don't see anything wrong with benefit auctions, as long as you're buying the item for its real value to you, and you aren't pressured into overpaying for the item. |
The things Amish do!?
