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Which BOR right(s) is (are) the most important?

Which BOR Amendment is themost important?

  • Total voters
    11
MadLib

MadLib

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First Amendment - freedom of expression, freedom of religion, with this implicitly establishes freedom of thought
Second Amendment - right to bearing arms (self-defense, ability to overthrow government if it becomes tyrannical)
Third Amendment - soldiers can't force you to provide food and shelter for them
Fourth Amendment - cops can't just bust into your house and take your stuff without a warrant
Fifth Amendment - you are guaranteed due process, you cannot be charged twice for the same crime or forced to testify against yourself
Sixth Amendment - you are entitled to a speedy, fair, public trial by a jury of your peers, and counsel to defend you if you cannot hire
Seventh Amendment - all lawsuits can be tried by jury if the amount in question exceeds twenty bucks
Eighth Amendment - no excessive fines/bails, no cruel or unusual punishments
Ninth Amendment - Even if you are not explicitly guaranteed a right that does not mean that right does not exist (privacy)
Tenth Amendment - powers not given to the feds or denied to the states are given to the states or to the people
 
The third is kind of out of date, but the rest are still as important as the day they were written. The fourth and fifth are being eroded, which is something I fear we'll live to regret.
 
Dittohead not! said:
The third is kind of out of date, but the rest are still as important as the day they were written. The fourth and fifth are being eroded, which is something I fear we'll live to regret.
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They're all being eroded. It's not limited to just those two.
 
Cephus said:
They're all being eroded. It's not limited to just those two.
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Perhaps, but the fourth, and even more the fifth are the most endangered. Think asset forfeiture and indefinite detention without trial.
 
I kind of think it is a tie between the first and second amendment.The first is supposed ensures we can basically criticize and speak out against the government and bring government misdeeds to light while the 2nd amendment is supposed to ensures we have the means to over throw the government,which basically means people have the means to intimidate and force the government to abide by the BOR.
 
The 1st - without the freedom of speech, right to assembly and to share our disapproval of our government all others are completely pointless - if we couldn't dispute we can't argue and defend anything else if the government violates it.

On the note of the third - imagine how extreme things might have ot be in this modern era - but imagine if some bizarre even was going on (we were invaded) and this was a potential for you - your rights aren't just defendable against your countrymen - but they are defendable by our government against foreign nations as well.

If you have the right to your own home - and one violates that right - you have the right to defend yourself as you see fit.
 
Dittohead not! said:
Perhaps, but the fourth, and even more the fifth are the most endangered. Think asset forfeiture and indefinite detention without trial.
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Actually, I think the first is even in more danger, considering the number of groups that want to outlaw free speech over religion, etc.
 
Dittohead not! said:
The third is kind of out of date…
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Not out of date, so much as misunderstood.

Consider that when it was written, no electronic technology existed. No telephones to be tapped. No recorders, transmitters, microphones, nothing. If you wanted to spy on someone, to learn the content of any conversations that that person might have, the only way was to put a live human being in a position to overhear those conversations.

The Third Amendment isn't about compelling people to providing housing for soldiers; it is about putting those soldiers in a position to spy on the individuals in whose homes they would be quartered.
 
Bob Blaylock said:
Not out of date, so much as misunderstood.

Consider that when it was written, no electronic technology existed. No telephones to be tapped. No recorders, transmitters, microphones, nothing. If you wanted to spy on someone, to learn the content of any conversations that that person might have, the only way was to put a live human being in a position to overhear those conversations.

The Third Amendment isn't about compelling people to providing housing for soldiers; it is about putting those soldiers in a position to spy on the individuals in whose homes they would be quartered.
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I disagree. The 3rd is about appropriating your property for use by the military. The 4th is about keeping them out.
 
LOL, I noticed some people (Bob and Surtr) voted for every amendment. I see the Seventh as kind of unimportant, especially since twenty dollars was worth a lot more then than it is now, since it only covers suits of common law and not criminal law. I'm not suggesting we should get rid of it, I'm just saying in regards to the others (freedom of security in your own property, rights of the accused, freedom of speech and the right to bear arms) it is relatively insignificant.

The First, Second, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth all seem the most important, but the First especially. Allowing breaking into houses, arbitrary tribunals and abolition of guns are all steps that can enable tyranny, but abolishing freedom of thought and expression is in and of itself tyrannical.
 
The second of course, with out it, you cannot protect any of the others.

None of these "rights" are really rights. They are earned privileges. A "Right" would exist completely independent of any actions. Everyone of our "Rights" depends on someone taking actions to give them to us, thus, they are actually earned privileges, not "Rights". Non of them exist naturally or in nature, they are a man-made created construct. If they were natural and actual "Rights" then they could not be abridged by any human action. They are only valuable to us because we earn them. Anything that is given with out some means of earning it has no value.

These earned privileges have value, at least to some of us, because we exert effort and work to maintain and have them, thus they are valuable to us.

The "Right" to keep and bear arms is the most valuable of them all because it is the tool that allows us the ability to earn all the others.
 
DVSentinel said:
The second of course, with out it, you cannot protect any of the others.

None of these "rights" are really rights. They are earned privileges. A "Right" would exist completely independent of any actions. Everyone of our "Rights" depends on someone taking actions to give them to us, thus, they are actually earned privileges, not "Rights". Non of them exist naturally or in nature, they are a man-made created construct. If they were natural and actual "Rights" then they could not be abridged by any human action. They are only valuable to us because we earn them. Anything that is given with out some means of earning it has no value.

These earned privileges have value, at least to some of us, because we exert effort and work to maintain and have them, thus they are valuable to us.

The "Right" to keep and bear arms is the most valuable of them all because it is the tool that allows us the ability to earn all the others.
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So, you don't buy into the "endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights" concept?
 
Dittohead not! said:
So, you don't buy into the "endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights" concept?
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Nope, sure don't. The Creator gave us life, but also free will.

Life--You are given it at birth (conception for the pro-lifers), but from then on, it is a struggle to keep it. You are dependent upon your parents at first, they fight for and provide for you while you grow. Then it is incumbent upon you, the individual to do what is necessary to keep that life. Your parents and then you have to constantly earn that "right", don't, and you lose it.

Liberty--I cannot remember the exact quote, but Liberty can only be bought and maintained by the shedding of the blood of patriots who believe in it. If you, or someone acting for you, does not work constantly, and often die, to give it to you, it will not exist.

Pursuit of Happiness--Perhaps one of the few actual Rights, it cannot be taken from you. No matter what anyone does to you, short of taking your life, even if you lose your liberty/s, you can still pursue happiness. Of course whether or not you actually catch it is completely dependent upon you, but you can always pursue it as long as you are alive.

One of the only other Natural Rights is the right to self defense, it cannot be taken from you and you cannot be prevented from doing it. There may be repercussions for doing so, but you are always free to do so. And of course, there is no guarantee that you will win.
 
I'm not one to choose which is better than the others .. but if I had to, I would choose the 1st amendment... simply because free speech/expression is the foundation of all others, as i see it.

then I would choose the 2nd, as a means to protect the 1st.
 
Surtr said:
Why not? If we allow them to remove one, we give them all the justification they need to remove any others they want.
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:neutral: It's not which one you think can be removed, it's which ones are more important. Obviously they're all needed
 
DVSentinel said:
Nope, sure don't. The Creator gave us life, but also free will.

Life--You are given it at birth (conception for the pro-lifers), but from then on, it is a struggle to keep it. You are dependent upon your parents at first, they fight for and provide for you while you grow. Then it is incumbent upon you, the individual to do what is necessary to keep that life. Your parents and then you have to constantly earn that "right", don't, and you lose it.

Liberty--I cannot remember the exact quote, but Liberty can only be bought and maintained by the shedding of the blood of patriots who believe in it. If you, or someone acting for you, does not work constantly, and often die, to give it to you, it will not exist.

Pursuit of Happiness--Perhaps one of the few actual Rights, it cannot be taken from you. No matter what anyone does to you, short of taking your life, even if you lose your liberty/s, you can still pursue happiness. Of course whether or not you actually catch it is completely dependent upon you, but you can always pursue it as long as you are alive.

One of the only other Natural Rights is the right to self defense, it cannot be taken from you and you cannot be prevented from doing it. There may be repercussions for doing so, but you are always free to do so. And of course, there is no guarantee that you will win.
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The Declaration of Independence goes on to say that it is the purpose of government to protect those rights. If the government is doing something that doesn't protect our rights, or worse yet, if the government is threatening those rights, then it is the duty of patriots to replace that government with one that does protect our rights.

All of that still works even if you don't believe in a creator, or don't believe that said creator gave us our rights.
 
The 5th and 8th should be combined in the sense they both relate to judicial process. I see that as the top of the list as that is what stands between the government and an individual losing his/her liberty or even life at the hands of the government.
 
How do you even put a 'rank' on them? The beauty of the Bill of Rights (and what so many foolishly ignore) is that as constituted they protect ALL of them, not just the ones you may 'like'. People that continually attack the 2nd ignore the reality that it puts at risk the 1st and all others.
 
The 10th has been stepped on the most.
 
MadLib said:
First Amendment - freedom of expression, freedom of religion, with this implicitly establishes freedom of thought
Second Amendment - right to bearing arms (self-defense, ability to overthrow government if it becomes tyrannical)
Third Amendment - soldiers can't force you to provide food and shelter for them
Fourth Amendment - cops can't just bust into your house and take your stuff without a warrant
Fifth Amendment - you are guaranteed due process, you cannot be charged twice for the same crime or forced to testify against yourself
Sixth Amendment - you are entitled to a speedy, fair, public trial by a jury of your peers, and counsel to defend you if you cannot hire
Seventh Amendment - all lawsuits can be tried by jury if the amount in question exceeds twenty bucks
Eighth Amendment - no excessive fines/bails, no cruel or unusual punishments
Ninth Amendment - Even if you are not explicitly guaranteed a right that does not mean that right does not exist (privacy)
Tenth Amendment - powers not given to the feds or denied to the states are given to the states or to the people
Click to expand...

They are all important.
 
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