Years ago when my mother was in good health, she asked everyone to stop arguing about politics during family gatherings. We've stuck to that and discuss sports, the weather, movies, food, etc.
At least the kids get to know their relatives and play with cousins...
That is a good policy and one my wife and I adhere to unless we are with friends of a like mind or of course on online sites like FReeper. But there are some obnoxious Communists who simply can not help themselves. For these folks everything is political and any gathering from family get togethers to company picnics gives them an audience, albeit a reluctant one, and they simply can not shut up. They’ll go on about everything from the SUV’s driven by some guests to the “unfair” (in their mind) working conditions of the mostly illegal farm workers who gathered the food on the table. Which of course leads to the immigration policies of the miserable Republicans. Then on to George Bush, The Tea Party, yada yada yada, ad nauseam. It’s like it is a disease.