[steve-b]

left-wing activists in the second half of the 20th century created the fiction that the 14th amendment 'incorporated' selected parts of the bill of rights into the 14th amendment

The judicial activism consisted SOLELY of inventing the notion that incorporation was a cafeteria-menu selection of preference, rather than an across-the-board requirement of constitutional law as guided by original intent.

[jwalsh07]

Er, no. The Blaine Amendment was specifically addressed to incorporate the 1A to the states. It was rejected by Congress as a whole, Bingham and Howard not withstanding.

More to the point, the second throught the eight do not need incorporation at all, they are simply an acknowledgement of rights inherent to the people.

14th Amendment guys like you are like the Colonel in the movie the Bridge Over the River Kwai. You embrace the building of that bridge until you look at the power the 14th Amendment has given to courts to act as both a legislative and executive branch and then say, Oh Lordy what have I done. You just haven't looked at the bridge yet.