Intimating? Is there any other way that you would have me state that the 2A and 4A are the only amendments that matter?
State it anyway you want, but your opinion that they're "the only amendments that matter" both ignores and disdains the vital importance of the other Amendments. For example, how do you propose protecting 2A and 4A without 1A's freedom of speech and the right to redress government with your grievances? Do you propose shooting any politician who disagrees with you or violates your rights? Or will you instead exercise your 1A rights by using your words?
The two most powerfully worded amendments in my view, "shall not be infringed" and "shall not be violated."
Now you see, stating they're "the two most powerfully worded amendments" is quite different than your stating they're "the only amendments that matter." The former does not attempt to negate the others.
Incidentally, there is the 1A, "Congress shall make no law"...which is ignored by every state too.
That's because the restriction was against Congress, not the states. To understand why, you have to consider the period, where states fully supported religion. In fact, the states were concerned our newly-formed federal government would either override state laws giving religion a wide berth, or worse, attempt to establish a national religion such as existed in England. Indeed, more than one early member of our government proposed just that.
I agree that we must obey them and defeat them in a court of law, or via the ballot box. This is the only reason they matter.
You've mentioned 2A, 4A, and 1A. By "they" do you mean all amendments or just 2A and 4A?
A citizen's question should be, if not for the 2A, and to some extent the 4A, where would we all be today. England? Canada? Australia? Not, well, ya know, there are those other amendments too, not just the 2A and 4A. There is no (or should not be a) greater restraint on government than the 4A, what little of it remains post Terry v. Ohio. No other amendment is so ignored by legislators than the 2A.
Agreed. No, seriously, I agree both 2A and 4A are pivotal and we need to regain ground lost to ignorance and control freaks.
Even so, Amendments such as 9A and 10A play huge roles in keep the feds in check, as well:
Amendment IX: The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.
Amendment X: The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
Interestingly enough, "The Supreme Court held in Barron v. Baltimore (1833) that the Bill of Rights was enforceable by the federal courts only against the federal government, and not against the states." The problem I have with this is that where the subject is specifically stated, such as with 1A's "Congress," when it applies to Congress, whereas absent such limitation it applies to all, a fact which the states knowingly accepted at ratification.
Put simply, the U.S. Supreme Court
got it wrong.
Everybody knows exactly what The Founders meant...except for the USSC. The 2A was not "put in there" just so we could "defend hearth and home."
Is that what SCOTUS said about McDonald and Heller? Or did they find "that the right of an individual to "keep and bear arms," as protected under the Second Amendment, is incorporated by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment against the states" and "the Second Amendment protects an individual's right to possess a firearm?"
The 9A and 10A...how are we as a nation doing with those two...NFA, GCA, ACA...need I go on?
Just because we're doing poorly doesn't mean they're not important. If anything, their importance is unrelated to governmental performance. They're supremely important, all of them, and should be defended as such.