Will People Like the Nauglers Increase Laws that Make it Illegal to Survive?

This is a comment another blog post regarding “A Former Off-Grid, Homeschooled Child’s Thoughts on the Naugler Family,” by Marlene Braun Drake on Homeschoolers Anonymous. You should read her post so this one makes sense, please.

Marlene’s blog post portrays the Naugler family as ignorant slobs, which, based on the pictures from their Facebook Page is a compelling point. She writes a lot about the muddy ground mixed with animal dung, dirty kids handling various animals, and the unsanitary conditions at the Naugler camp. I’m glad Marlene was able to comment on the “unhooked” lifestyle from the vantage point of growing up on a homestead without electricity and running water. But when she says the lifestyle can be lived by adhering to all laws, she’s wrong, and this common misconception is what I’d like to focus on, since the state will be taking care of what’s going on with the Naugler’s kids.

Pay Attention: Freedom to Survive is Becoming Illegal

Whether or not you agree with the Naugler’s lifestyle, you should be more worried about the stark reality that our freedom to survive simply on the land is slipping away for everybody except those with money. What Marlene’s parents did is quickly becoming impossible — a sad situation as the dollar is poised to collapse and even more people will become homeless.

And I take issue to the way she and commenters on her blog refer to homeless people like they have leprosy. There but for the grace of God go all of them.

Water and Toilet Issues

Back when Marlene was being raised on the unhooked homestead, some of their “homesteading” practices were/were becoming illegal. I don’t know what NW state she lived in, but where I did it, in Washington, it was illegal to collect rainwater from the roof until the law changed in 2009. It may have been legal to use an outhouse in her county, but in many, that is not an option today. If you don’t want to continue the questionable practice of pooping in the fresh water supply, you will have to fight for your right to use a safe and sane humanure composting loo.

Tickets for Wood Smoke

Barrel stoves are also becoming a freedom of the past. Currently, it is illegal to buy, sell, trade, or give away any used woodstove in Washington state and certain jurisdictions are already issuing tickets for smoke that comes out of all but the most modern wood stoves.

Whether you think these changes are good or not, they are part of a regulatory trend that bars people of modest means from making the choices her family did– the choice to get out of the rat race and try to live a clean life in the country. The right to live simply and resourcefully on the land is quickly becoming illegal and people need to stand up for their right to do it. It’s a lifestyle that can be gracefully lived with very little money, if people know what they’re doing.

People with Pipes and Wires are Slobs Too

On the matter of keeping a clean camp, I have personally been to rural homes that are just as sloppy and dung infested as these people’s, except they have a trailer with electricity and running water.

News Flash: You Don’t Need Solid Walls to Be a Good Person

Also, six solid walls do not define good character. There are plenty of good people who live and have lived in homes made of cloth or skins with dirt floors. I wouldn’t be so quick to make generalizations. Frankly I find people’s narrow assumptions about these things unsettling.

Decriminalize Unhooked Living and Learn it Now

Whatever the Nauglers are – living without pipes and wires should not criticized because of them. Instead, it needs to be widely accepted. Everyone in the modern culture needs coaching, mentoring, encouragement to do it successfully — if for no other reason, but to be prepared for catastrophes when support systems fail. And who best to learn it from but people who have been there and done it. According to Paul Joseph Watson “…Critics point to the property’s lack of running water, wired electricity and toilets as evidence of neglect.” You will notice that the distinction is not made of living that way well, or doing it poorly — it is just the lack of these things that is criminal. That is the point everyone should be paying attention to. Unfortunately, it escapes most people.

Pipes and Wires Don’t Equal a Sane Society

Blindly assuming that pipes and wires are the answer to everything is patently wrong, since most people in our country have them and yet the environment is polluted, the incidence of sick people is escalating exponentially, and we are in constant wars to perpetuate our high standard of living. Are the critics aware of earthships, humanure systems, permaculture, and the fact that living off grid, when done right SOLVES MANY PROBLEMS that challenge our culture today? The problem is most people will perpetuate unsustainable systems because they are too lazy or ignorant to change. Oh — that’s how they are portraying the Nauglers. Well, as is usually the case, when you’re pointing a finger there are usually three pointing right back at you.

Living without pipes and wires should not be deemed a criminal act just because the moderns have completely forgotten their heritage and are blinded with the illusions brought by so many comforts. What is needed is assistance, such as community support, education, revolving loans, etc. to help people do unhooked living right. With today’s new inventions and appropriate technologies, we can blend old and new to bring on a better paradigm before we all destroy ourselves by blindly following current patterns. But we can only do it if simple unhooked living is decriminalized.

Stop Being Brainwashed – Create Positive Change

This brainwashing that you must have corporate power and water funneled to you — or you are a subhuman Barbarian to be pushed around by the System — has got to be nipped in the bud. People need the freedom to experiment so we can create positive change. Your other ultimate choice is to be completely controlled by the powers that be. Please read The Truth About Simple Unhooked Living. It’s not that I desperately need your $3.99 — It purposely cheap to increase awareness and stimulate dialogue that leads to alternative possibilities, so more people can start contributing to their own thrival and self sufficiency. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/149531