The same argument could be made for irrigation systems and crops, open marketplaces, or technological progress. All are necessary entanglements in a society and allow a society to be and flourish, but I don't define politics as something so nebulous and impenetrable an idea, politics is more about the relationships,dynamics and interactions of people and their values, and if we all cared more for one another than for temporary gains we could achieve what one might call a Post Political Paradise
And, to make it really-real clear, it's not "petty" to refuse to associate with people who want to make life significantly worse for you and yours. It's defense.