By design. Politics is the process of operating a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

If there were no politics, there'd be no democracy, even if technically a society had a democratic form of government. In that situation the people have given up on democracy, and are allowing it to rust from disuse. Democracy only exists when it's used; it's kept alive by exercise.

Germany wasn't troubled by politics after establishment of a permanent Nazi majority. The Soviet Union wasn't wracked by politics after establishment of a permanent Communist majority. We interpret the fitful outbreaks of politics in China as a sign that the tyranny of the permanent Communist majority is cracking.

Periodically, people in free societies get tired of the struggle of politics, and start to wish for the shortcut of absolute power. That train of thought is dangerous to a democracy, and it's the kind of subtle corruption we must eternally guard against. When you start wishing for an end to politics, understand that you're wishing for the beginning of tyranny.

I know that you believe in a third state, the Libertarian paradise of rugged individualists untroubled by government. Anarchic individualism or individualistic anarchism, I can never keep 'em straight, but in either permutation, I'm still waiting for any Libertarian to demonstrate how that's anything other than an unstable transitional state on the path to restoration of feudalism.

That is something like the point Eri made below: Self-government fulfills a purpose identical to that of a union. Self-government and unions aggregate the small power of many individuals into a power strong enough to, we hope, balance out concentrations of power in the hands of a few.

Several people have tried to point out the inconsistency of your hatred and fear of government, against your acceptance of the concentration of power in business. Concentration of power is concentration of power, and it's angels dancing on the head of a pin time to try to draw any distinction between government power and business power. Skepticism of concentration of power in anybody's hands is vital to maintaining our freedom.

I trust you'll get over this outbreak of angst. In your 'plaint I detect a nostalgia for a past in which people didn't talk politics, and all was harmony. Trust me, that time never existed in America. I learned politics from my parents, and my parents learned it from theirs. I grew up listening to adults discuss politics (and Conservative politics at that), I joined in at an early age...and here we are today. I'm here to continue the long and honorable American tradition of participatory politics that I was born into and that I consider my birthright.

Revel in it, Tom. We're Americans, politics is our identity. We are the people who argue endlessly about politics. Like the affectations of that other Chosen People, it's how we know each other and distinguish ourselves from others.