Lessons for My Children…Chapter 3: Hiding from the government
By Dave Duffy
Issue #138 • November/December, 2012
After opening the discussion in this column last issue about the underground economy, I thought it would be a good idea to explore it more thoroughly since it...
My view: Socialism’s promises always end in disaster
By Dave Duffy
Issue #176 • April/May/June, 2019
There are lots of news stories these days about socialism’s rise in the United States, especially among the young and admirers of newly elected New York Congresswoman Alexandria...
Helping crackpots kill kids
By John Silveira
February 23, 2000
I've moved to Oregon and one of the first "privileges" in this state I intend to avail myself of is the state's easy-to-obtain concealed weapon permit. Never mind that the...
Why bureaucracy will likely destroy America
By John Silveira
Issue #50 • March/April, 1998
"Civilizations rise and fall," Dave said and I turned around to see if he was talking to me, but he was still staring at his monitor. I looked...
Avoiding legal traps
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #105 • May/June, 2007
Dave Duffy wrote recently on the plight of Brad Metcalf. There are several lessons to be learned.
Metcalf represented himself, pro se, in court. This is almost never a...
The curse of oil
By John Silveira
Issue #82 • July/August, 2003
To many, the oil beneath the sands of the Middle East is a kind of godsend for them. My take on it is that it's illusionary wealth in...
Defending against terrorists
By Dave Duffy
Issue #152 • March/April, 2015
I watched a lot of TV news in the days following the terrorist assassinations of the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists in Paris. What struck me as odd was that...
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...
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...
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...
Mousers and cat loonies
By Dave Duffy
Issue #83 • September/October, 2003
I must really be old fashioned. I live in the country and have plenty of rodents running around, just like many of you, so I need a few...
Introducing the international tax cartel
By Dave Duffy
February 13, 2001
Democrats on Capitol Hill aren't the only ones who don't like President Bush's $1.6 trillion tax cut plan. A group of Western European nations think they should have global veto...
A lesson in respect
By John Silveira
Issue #65 • September/October, 2000
When I was 10, Dad lived on a farm in New Hampshire with my stepmother and two of my sisters, and I went to stay with them that...
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...
A reason for the Second Amendment
By John Silveira
Issue #141 • May/June, 2013
Right after the shooting of 20 children and 6 teachers at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, I was asked by several people, "Does anyone really...
The current ‘Gun control’ push — A cop’s eye view
By Massad Ayoob
Issue #142 • July/August, 2013
First, a word of explanation. The reason "gun control" is in quotes in the title and in this sentence is because, for a very long time, the prohibitionists...
