That said, it’s worth noting that unlike your typical homeschool promoting conservative, these people “live near each other and care for each other’s children”, so they are already on a good track to understanding enough tradition to perhaps build something lasting.

You’re doing it wrong. Jobs aren’t a thing that exist and then are picked up by some cog who fits the requirements. Jobs are created by people on the ground.

There are 100 families there. Someone should grow food. Someone should tailor clothing. Someone should build rooves. Someone should do electrical work, AC work, carpentry, plumbing, help look after children, become a doctor, tinker, veternarian, sherriff, judge, etc. etc.

Of course that’s a lot easier to say than to get done, especially when the nearest government is specifically hostile to the idea. And of course these are the words of the WSJ, not the actual people, but the point is that building an actual community requires actually BUILDING that community. It’s not merely a social activity, but also an economic one.

The Society started with four priests in the USA in the 1970s, and now there are over 600. While the Novis Ordo Catholic Church is closing churches and seminaries for the lack of vocations, the SSPX just opened a New Seminary in Virginia.

I can testify firsthand that cutting the cord works wonders, even for kids in public school (“Daddy, I don’t know why all the other girls like this ‘Trolls’. It’s stupid!”).

But the Benedict Option seems to me to be less about disconnecting from unhealthy communities, than about connecting with others to form a healthier community. Cutting the cord and homeschooling accomplishes the necessary disconnection, but not making the new connections. Economic isolation is no fun, but neither is social isolation.