If only there were some way for a Communist to answer the question "Are you a Communist?" without alerting any suspicions. Any way at all. But of course, these lines of interrogation are just too water-tight.
It's not as unreasonable as you might think. I was working as a post-doc at a national lab when I became engaged to the daughter of a fairly high-ranking member of the communist party of the PRC. I remember confiding in my supervisor that I was about to marry my girlfriend of many years, and I remember him telling me that he'd rather not hear anything about it. And he was about as blind Gore-loyal as they come. I honestly think I see both sides. I'm not a libertarian, and I'm not a socialist, but I'm somewhere in-between. Like most people are, frankly. It's a major hassle having to fill out a 27-page job application, and having to call people you haven't spoken to since you were in kindergarten just to make sure you'll get a job that you really want, even if you don't support the current administration's (or any administration's!) political policies. But you can understand that the people who control the wealth would like to continue controlling the wealth. I'm not trying to sound opebo-esque, but it's a fact that those who occupy the mansions at the apex (or is it the acme?) of the hill would like to maintain those positions. I respect that, but I also respect my sanity.
I mostly think we make too much of all this--After all, I did vote for Ron Paul in my state's primary elections--but never underestimate the seriousness with which those in control of the means of production and distribution take those means.
If I were in such a position, I may very well ask the same question. Fortunately, I am not. I may be poor, but I have a modicum of freedom. Janis Joplin famously wrote that "Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose." That may be quite right, and it may explain the general dismissal of the question. And I do not speak as a neoconservative, but rather as its ideological opposite.
The government takes itself quite seriously, and this transcends party loyalties. Never forget that.
