[michaelmrose]

The Amish way is ultimately impractical to practice without being embedded in a society which is much larger and inimical to their own way of thinking as otherwise those willing to both bear the cost of accepting modern ways of and willing to do violence burn your shit and settle on your land. In more peaceful times people may chose only to impoverish your people and buy your lands but the net effect is the same.

The inherent built-in futility limits the virtue of this approach.

[smitty1e]

I don't disagree with your point, which is, I think, that the Amish are essentially freeloading on the security afforded by the surrounding society.

Indeed, the smaller "tribal-esque" approach of the Amish may be considered similar to that of the Native American tribes, and American History seen as a natural experiment of how the Amish would fare if government security were to vanish.