Commentary Archives - Backwoods Home Magazine

Loading the gun for a dictatorship

By John Silveira Issue #103 • January/February, 2007 My late friend, Jim Callahan, was a self-professed "liberal." At least, when I first met him, that's what he claimed. Actually, he wasn't. But Jim wasn't a "conservative"...

Why not risk it all!

By Dave Duffy Issue #64 • July/August, 2000 I got this letter from a reader: Please cancel my subscription. I had the opportunity to read your editorial glorifying your agenda as a "paranoid, gun-toting nut." This is...

We don’t need no steenking 2nd Amendment

By John Silveira Issue #58 • July/August, 1999 I usually get up to the magazine from southern California in plenty of time for the bimonthly deadline. Not this issue. I was late and way behind. But...

Want proof of luck, ESP, and psychic powers?

By John Silveira Issue #40 • July/August, 1996 We were riding down the Pacific Coast Highway Mac, his girlfriend Carol, and I. Mac's the poker playing friend of Dave Duffy, the fellow who publishes this magazine....

Animal rights loonies save the chickens but ruin the County Fair

By Dave Duffy Issue #84 • November/December, 2003 We had our County Fair between issues. It was a small Fair with just a few thousand in attendance, but no one in our town of 1500 would miss...

Some thoughts on growing older in the backwoods

By Marjorie Burris Issue #16 • July/August, 1992 "Just how long are you going to be able to live in the backwoods like that?" my friend, Pat, asked. "You're not getting any younger, you know!" I've known...

Talking to your kids about death

By Dave Duffy Issue #97 • January/February, 2006 How do you talk to a child about the death of someone they love? How do you explain the impossible? It's a task many of us parents have...

“Gun control” for dummies

By Massad Ayoob Issue #141 • May/June, 2013 Barack Obama, outspokenly anti-gun for his entire political career, fooled an amazing number of gun owners by keeping a "hands off" attitude toward Second Amendment issues until his...

My View: Jury duty: The charge was rape

Dave Duffy I was on jury duty for 2½ weeks between issues. On trial was a 21-year-old man (now 23) accused of raping a 20-year-old girl during an encounter two years previous in which both...

10 traits for better living

By Claire Wolfe Issue #151 • January/February, 2015 It's a mystery why one person can be poor but still proud, independent, and reasonably content while the guy next door is merely content to slide into a...

Turn the poor into capitalists

By John Silveira Issue #137 • September/October, 2012 I'm not a fan of the welfare system and I think it's been more of a failure than a success. It may serve as a 'safety net' for...

My View: Grand Theory vs. Stark Reality

Dave Duffy While visiting Boston between issues, my wife, Lenie, got into a conversation about preparedness. It was a brief, but telling, discussion because our host, like many people who live in cities, had not...

The Coming American Dictatorship revisited

By John Silveira Issue #77 • September/October, 2002 Mac's back. After a long absence our poker-playing friend from southern California, O.E. MacDougal, walked into the Oregon offices of Backwoods Home Magazine. Poof, and there he was. No...

A government with not enough to do, but lots of hungry mouths to feed

By Dave Duffy Issue #130 • July/August, 2011 Most people look in the wrong places for threats to society, and their perceptions are easily manipulated by the mass media, which is often spoon-fed its stories by...

Something unsaid about Timothy McVeigh’s execution

By Dave Duffy April 12, 2001 There's something unsaid about the coming Timothy McVeigh execution, scheduled for May 16. Many of us can feel it but are afraid to express it for fear of being labeled...

Chuck meets Bubba

By John Silveira Issue #68 • March/April, 2001 What follows happened a decade and a half ago. I worked in a large corporation where I shared a large cubicle with two other guys. I'll call them...