Reaching for the stars during a recession
By Dave Duffy
Issue #125 • September/October, 2010
Toby is the volunteer assistant golf coach for the team this magazine sponsors, the Gold Beach High School Panthers. He has spent hundreds of hours of his own...
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...
Lessons for My Children Chapter 1
By Dave Duffy
Issue #136 • July/August, 2012
I've been working for several years on a small book for my kids called Lessons for My Children that will attempt to give them advice about how to...
The Government gorilla in our home
By Dave Duffy
Issue #101 • September/October, 2006
The other week, Vince, a contractor who does occasional work for me, was arrested for slapping his 14-year-old daughter on the behind when she talked back to her...
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...
The land of the unfree
By John Silveira
Issue #101 • September/October, 2006
It's official! The numbers are in once again! For I-don't-know-how-many-years-running, the United States, this so-called "land of the free," is imprisoning more people, in both absolute numbers and...
Confronting the enemy
By Dave Duffy
Issue #81 • May/June, 2003
I got a lot of criticism a couple of issues ago from liberals when I pointed my finger at black Americans and asked why they had their heads...
That old survivalist mumbo jumbo and 10 reasons why it makes sense
By Dave Duffy
Issue #91 • January/February, 2005
I've got a suggestion for a sensible New Year's resolution for self-reliant types like myself, and I've got at least 10 good reasons to keep it. The resolution...
An American dollar worth two cents
By John Silveira
Issue #129 • May/June, 2011
Most Americans are unaware that today's dollar has the purchasing power that roughly four cents had back in 1913. That was the year the Federal Reserve (the Fed)...
The parasitic nature of bureaucracy
By Dave Duffy
Issue #106 • July/August, 2007
As we go to print with this issue, my local newspaper's main page one headline reads: County tax levy soundly defeated. I applauded at my desk to the...
How America can be saved from stupid people
By Dave Duffy
Issue #155 • September/October, 2015
Fifteen years ago (in Issue No. 65) I wrote an article in this space titled, "Can America Be Saved from Stupid People?" It was widely read and stirred...
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...
A Republic vs. A Democracy
By John Silveira
Issue #90 • November/December, 2004
He was in the other office when I heard his voice. But he was getting closer and closer and then he came through the door into the editorial...
A history lesson from Ayn Rand
By Dave Duffy
Issue #44 • March/April, 1997
For the past several weeks I've been reading the Letters of Ayn Rand, which is a collection covering her letters from 1926, when she arrived in America from...
Libertarian and Conservative
By John Silveira
Issue #133 • January/February, 2012
I cringe when I hear libertarians lumped with conservatives or at least today's conservatives. Liberals want you to view us as conservatives so you won't look any...
Just how good of a bet are those lotto tickets?
By John Silveira
Issue #37 • January/February, 1996
I looked at the newspaper and tried to match up the lotto results printed there with my picks. I sighed. "Boy, I sure would've liked to have won...
