What is it about politics that makes people go insane?

There is nothing else like it. No other subject of conversation that gets people riled up like a discussion of politics. I'm not a political nut myself. In fact I hate talking politics, and I'm not well educated on politics. But I listen to talk radio so politics occasionally come up. Usually when discussiing certain issues like sports, music, even games, people cordially disagree and make their points. But when it comes to politics and someone disagrees with someone, the first response is always "dude, you don't have a clue about politics." Everyone thinks they know everything when it comes to politics.

Why do political discussions get so crazy and so heated? I understand that when people feel passionate about something, things can get out of hand, but people feel passionate about sports too, and those conversations rarely get out of control. It's only politics where in 5 minutes people can almost come to blows over a simple debate. It snowballs unlike any topic of discussion I've ever seen. It can't just be the passion involved. There are plenty of things to discuss that people are passionate for, but they hardly get out of control.

What the heck is it about politics that everyone thinks they know everything and that makes everyone get all crazy and angry? Someone please explain it to me, because I've never felt that way about politics. I rarely discuss them, but when I do I never lose my cool.

Jam it back in, in the dark.