Having lived overseas, and having faced analogous situations with foreigners here, I have learned it is just plain bad manners to engage in political shouting matches with people when you are at their house. If asked, you are entitled to state your views and make them clear, but then you change the subject and politely decline escalation. Nothing turns me into a patriot faster than having a stranger attacking my homeland in my home, even if I happen to agree with him; especially if the attacker equates attacking me personally with attacking my country's policy.

Amongst my friends, leftists predominate, amongst my colleagues and business associates, rightists are more common. In both cases, we are able to maintain amicable relations by sensing when the conversation strays to far into controversy. It's not that we refuse to engage in partisan debate, we just do it when it is acceptable to both sides, and when it is starting to become too heated. And yes, I do engage in partisan debates with people I otherwise get along with. I even married one. I have good friends who are religious and anomalists too, we both know where the other stands.

As far as obnoxious and exaggerated partisans on both sides are concerned, The percentage on left and right are both about the same. In a forum like this one, where we are essentially strangers from a wide spectrum of views, and where we have the option of withdrawing at any time, these rules of community have to evolve, and some friction is inevitable. But it also depends on how people define themselves, not just politically (we all have political views), but in how much those political views define their self-image. People who define themselves by their political views I find at best, tiresome, at worst, dangerous. I consider myself a moderate leftist politically, but that will not be engraved on my tombstone. It will say " Elisee Reclus, Cuban-American, Scientist, Hippy, Sailor" And I haven't decided yet in which order.