Students Write To The Government of Libya
To Muamar Quaddafi,
We the students of a government class at North Hagerstown High School think that your government has been unfair to its own people. The treatment your people receive is very cruel. Maybe it is because we do not live in a authoritarian country. You have tight, unfair control over ethnic minorities and repress banned Islamic groups. You called for violence toward your enemies after violent clashes between Islamic activists and security forces in 1995. Your government dominates the economy through complete control of the country's oil resources. You kill citizens without a fair trial and use intimidation to control your country. For these reasons we think that your government is a cruel and unfair one.
Your dictatorship is very different from the democratic system of the United States. We live in a nation where where we have the right to alter or change the government if it becomes destructive. Your people do not have that right. In fact, they have very few rights compared to us. Your government restricts freedoms of speech, press, assembly, and religion. Every US citizen is guaranteed all of these rights in our First Amendment of the Constitution. Our Constitution also protects our right to life, liberty, and property. These cannot be taken from us without "due process" of law. We have the right to a fair public trial, where as the average Libyan does not.
In our form of democracy, the government is divided so power cannot be concentrated in one place. Our Federal system is divided into three branches; Executive, Legislative, Judicial. The Executive branch consists of our leader, President, Bill Clinton and the Vice President, Al Gore. The Executive branch executes the laws of our country. The Legislative branch is Congress and they are the main lawmaking body of our country. The Judicial branch consists of nine appointed judges who say if the laws Congress makes are constitutional or unconstitutional. So even the government must obey the Constitution. The Federal system works on the theory of checks and balances. This is when each branch checks on each other. So no one branch becomes too powerful.
We think that you should consider a democracy government like the United States, for the well being of your people. It would give them equal rights and more freedom, therefore there could be less chaos in your authoritarian country.
Sincerely,
Billy D.
Simone W.
Nicole E.
Ashley E.
Sean G.
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