Commentary Archives - Backwoods Home Magazine

Remembering a decade of BHM

By Dave Duffy Issue #61 • January/February, 2000 Deadline has just ended as I sit down to write this, the last remaining page of this issue. The staff has gone home, and, except for Silveira who...

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...

Should we scrap our ‘old’ Constitution?

By John Silveira Issue #135 • May/June, 2012 In a recent New York Times article by Adam Liptak, he observed that the Constitution of the United States is not only the oldest constitution in existence, but...

Putting it all on the Amtrak line for Self-Reliance magazine

By Dave Duffy Issue #163 • January/February, 2017 As publisher of Backwoods Home Magazine for 28 years, I have not had to work as hard in recent years, as younger people like Managing Editor Jessie Denning...

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"...

What kind of Americans sit on our juries?

By John Silveira March 16, 2000 Our jury system is supposed to be a buffer between us--the citizens--and the government. It is there to prevent the abuse of power that governments have exercised since the dawn...

Home handgun defense — Simplicity suffices

By Massad Ayoob Issue #54 • November/December, 1998 You can get as high-tech as you feel you might need when you select the firearm(s) you'll use to protect your family. I "do firearms" for a living,...

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...

The black man’s worst enemy is not racism

By Dave Duffy Issue #16 • July/August, 1992 The recent riots in L.A. and other communities following the acquittal of four white L.A. police officers accused of beating black motorist Rodney King are yet another symptom...

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...

The Government intimidation factor and its effect on the health of society

By Dave Duffy Issue #142 • July/August, 2013 How do you take the temperature of a society, that is, how do you tell if a society is healthy or sick? Several years after the Soviet Union dissolved...

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...

Which wars work best? The ones we fight or the ones we avoid?

By Dave Duffy Issue #102 • November/December, 2006 History is supposed to teach us the lessons of wars past so we won't blunder into stupid wars in the present. Since I have mixed feelings about our...

The logic behind term limits and a historical perspective

By John Silveira Issue #35 • September/October, 1995 It was Tuesday and we were in deadline mode. Heat was seeping through the uninsulated walls of the new offices of Backwoods Home Magazine like little beasts from...

ID cards are an idea whose time should never come

By John Silveira October 28, 2001 I just read in the October 8th issue of U.S. News and World Report a column by Randall E. Stross in which he advocates some kind of national I.D. Card....

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,...