To the idiot on the internet who are WRONG

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IS NOT A LEGALLY BINDING DOCUMENT.

Citing it in a debate is roughly as worthwhile as citing the little trivia blurbs under the lid of your bottle of Snapple. Yes, it's a brilliantly written document of unprecedented importance, and yes it's full of good ideas like "all men are created equal" and the general idea that tyranny is bad and that if you're living under a tyrant you have not only the right but the absolute obligation to tell said tyrant to go to hell. That does not mean that it's valid as legal precedent, or that the words contained within that document are federal law, or anything of that sort.

This nearly made me put my fist through the table during seminar (Lincoln, I think) at St. John's and now I need to yell at the internet about it too.