Real-life heroes
By John Silveira
January 15, 2000
TV programs and movies are often about heroes. Here's the thinnest of plots: someone's in trouble and a John Wayne-type character shows up to rescue him--or her. In the meantime...
Every group needs a black sheep
By John Silveira
Issue #74 • March/April, 2002
I used to play a lot of poker and I learned things about people that surprised me. They were things other than the "Know when to hold 'em,...
My View: Three Cheers for Free Enterprise
By Dave Duffy
I love free enterprise. I see it all the time in our many trips across the country to show Backwoods Home Magazine at the fairs and expos we attend. Perhaps the most...
My View: Gaining an Appreciation for Risk
By Dave Duffy
Now and then you have to make a daring move in your life or you’ll run the risk of losing your dreams. Some people do that by changing their job to one...
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"...
When “good” laws are bad
By John Silveira
Issue #134 • March/April, 2012
I recently read an opinion piece on CNN's website titled, Edison would've loved the new light bulb law. It's supposed to be about the new law to force...
Self-reliance is a mindset — A woman’s opinion
By Dorothy Ainsworth
Issue #94 • July/August, 2005
Self-reliance is a mindset. If you have it, you are on your way to independence. If you don't, it would be in your best interest to develop it....
Defending against terroristic mass murder
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #160 • July/August, 2016
My friend Rich Grassi is a retired cop, a masterful instructor, and one of the best writers in the tactical field today. He recently wrote that it would...
Three honest words: “I don’t know”
By John Silveira
Issue #63 • May/June, 2000
As we enter another political campaign season I'm reminded of my three favorite words: "I don't know."
Some years back, when I lived in southern California, I met the...
Dark Winter — A simulated terrorist attack on three American cities using weaponized smallpox
By Dave Duffy
Issue #81 • May/June, 2003
Historically, smallpox has been the most deadly of all diseases for humans, killing between 300 and 500 million in the last century alone, far more than the 111...
The Coming American Dictatorship Part XII — The militarization of America’s police forces
By John Silveira
Issue #146 • March/April, 2014
He's back our poker-playing friend from Southern California, O.E. MacDougal. He came up here to fish. I thought he was after salmon, but this time he came...
My View: Gaining an appreciation for risk
By Dave Duffy
January/February/March, 2019
Now and then you have to make a daring move in your life, or you’ll run the risk of losing your dreams. Some people do that by changing their job to...
Golf’s critical life lessons are under threat
By Dave Duffy
Issue #118 • July/August, 2009
I'm a golfer. Not a very skillful one, but a devoted player and follower of the game. I took it up for the relaxation and peace of mind...
Self-reliance equals freedom
By Dave Duffy
Issue #107 • September/October, 2007
There seems always to be an underlying debate among self-reliant types who make up a majority of the readership of this magazine as to whether or not the...
Perspectives on the George Zimmerman/Trayvon Martin shooting
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #143 • September/October, 2013
The media told us a self-appointed neighborhood watch captain and wannabe cop with gun-derived courage was on patrol when he profiled a young child because he was black...
Defunding government is a sensible voter solution to reining in local government
By Dave Duffy
Issue #128 • March/April, 2011
Like so many other communities across the country, my community of Curry County on the southern Oregon coast has rejected efforts by local government to raise taxes in...
