By Bill Walczak

On my return from a recent trip to Vietnam and "Red" China, I found an article by conservative New York Times commentator William Safire on the new "Homeland Security Bill", as well as a copy of Sen. Robert Byrd's speech before congress on the bill. According to Safire, it seems that President Bush's Homeland Security bill would do the following:

"Every purchase you make with a credit card, every magazine subscription you buy and medical prescription you fill, every Web site you visit and e-mail you send or receive, every academic grade you receive, every bank deposit you make, every trip you book and every event you attend - all these transactions and communications will go into what the Defense Department describes as 'a virtual, centralized grand database.' To this computerized dossier on your private life from commercial sources, add every piece of information that government has about you &emdash; passport application, driver's license and bridge toll records, judicial and divorce records, complaints from nosy neighbors to the FBI, your lifetime paper trail plus the latest hidden camera surveillance." He continued, "Should said legislation pass, the power of the federal government to arrest and detain citizens without trial or access to attorney, to search private homes without warrant or notice, to tap telephone and computer communications, and to keep vital information secreted away from the eyes of the public, would be greatly enhanced."

Sen. Byrd says that this 484 page piece of legislation would be the most dramatic change to the US Government since the 1940s, and that most congress members won't even read it before voting on it.

I found the experience of reading these comments a few hours after getting off the plane quite ironic. Both Vietnam and China are Communist countries. One would assume that there would be great scrutiny of American travelers in their country, but I found quite the opposite. I was amazed at how easy it was to get into these countries. I was "waved" through customs in China and Vietnam without so much as a question. In my stops in the US, I was questioned about where I was going, how long I stayed, what I was doing there. In Vietnam and China, there were newspapers and magazines readily available, including articles critical of the government. One article mentioned the opening in Beijing of "Animal Farm," a play/allegory based on George Orwell's book about the horrors of Communism. An editorial cartoon lampooned the Beijing leadership, showing them coming out of the play describing how "familiar" it seemed. Another article spoke of the corruption in the government. In Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City), there were books and magazines available in bookstores and on the street about the American and European economic system, American novels, and American political magazines.

I write this because we Americans think we have some special relationship with freedom because of our Constitution, Bill of Rights, Declaration, etc., but that other countries don't enjoy freedom, and that's the difference between us and them. It is therefore hugely ironic to me to read about a bill that would seem to create the infrastructure of what we've been told about Communist states in the name of Homeland Security, while those "totalitarian" countries seem to be loosening up quite a bit on their freedoms. I don't want to seem naïve about the governments in the places I visited, I just want to make the point that President Bush seems intent on wrapping himself in the flag of freedom while creating a system that seems every bit as bad as what we were told about the Communist system.

Our civic obligation is to weigh in on issues like this. In the next month, our Congressmen will be voting on this bill. Some will say that this issue is out of the scope of the Civic Association. I disagree.

(The writer is chief executive of the Codman Square Health Center, and a member of the Columbia-Savin Hill Civic Association.)