Oh, the depressed cynicism is coming from an entirely different channel (I just came out of a staff meeting at my office); it's not a result of this exchange, just simultaneous with it. I'll get over it.

Though I do in fact stay away from politics in the sense you mean it here, for precisely the reason you have in mind...it does not do wonders for my mood. Although the exercise of defending the reasonableness of my political opponents and looking for holes in the positions of my political allies is one I find valuable, albeit generally best done in the privacy of my own mind.

In any case, thanks for your concern.