I have grown tired of people stating that ideology is a bad thing in and of itself. Any cognitive person has to develop an ideology of some sort in order to perform in society. The question should be how well is a person served by their ideology..... I live in the country and recently 5 stray cats showed up around my home. They do not chase mice from what I can tell because they are consistently found laying on my porch, regardless of the time of day or night. They are by and large not social and will run whenever a person comes toward the porch. They are a rough looking bunch who are skinny and seem to have less hair than most cats indicating that they are either infested with bugs or have a nutritional deficiency. We also have a cat of our own who we got because when we lived in town, our neighbors brought her to us as a tiny kitten and told us that the mother had abandoned her. We fed this kitten with an eyedropper and a bottle until she was old enough to eat real food. She has been spayed and is a typical slightly overweight house cat who thinks she runs the house and is allowed to run about our homeplace. My wife has decided, against my wishes, that the porch cats need to be fed, and is now taking the food from the 13 lb bag of food I buy every month for our house cat that earns its keep by catching mice in the house and providing affection and interaction. She has set out several containers which she dutifully fills with food a couple of times a day, and has a dishpan full of water out there to ensure that there is clean drinking water for the cats on the porch. Two mornings ago I got up, and while having my coffee our cat came up to me as she does every morning wanting a handful of cat food. I went to the usual spot and found that the bag was empty, leaving no food for the cat that we decided together to support and care for. I went to the store and bought the cheaper brand of cat food because I cannot afford to buy good quality cat food for 6 cats, and my wife will not discriminate between the food for the house cat and the food for the strays, so now my house cat must eat lower quality food because of the five cats on the porch. Another by-product of my Wifes largess is that we are now also feeding at least one possum, and a family of raccoons and who make the trip to the porch on a regular basis after dark. I know this because I now have to check the porch every night when I walk the dog to prevent him from getting into a fight with the raccoons or possum, which I am sure would result in high vet fees for my dogs care since a family of raccoons can tear up a lone dog. Also the raccoons routinely take baths in the dishpan, which makes the water quite dirty and undrinkable, requiring more frequent changes of that water as well. This is reality, this is not a joke. It is also the perfect example of the ideological debate that is taking place in the country, whether as an intellectual debate or as a practical matter. I have compromised by letting the food I bought for my cat to be used for the strays. Now my cat who was not getting premium quality high dollar food to start with has a lower quality of food, she also now has to deal with times of having no food because I dont have money at every moment to run to the store to get more. How many cats laying on the porch can I afford to feed? What happens when they start having kittens, will I be able to buy an even lower quality cat food to ensure that my wife can continue feeding them something? What effect will the lower quality food have on the total population of cats in my house and my yard? Will they become less healthy and then require more vet care that I cannot afford? At what point will someone decide that I am abusing the cats who are living in my yard because I do not bring them into the house when it rains or when winter sets in and I dont allow them into my home and report me to the authorities? How long can any country afford to pay for those who are not contributing, and what is the overall negative effect on those who have to give up more of their earnings to cover those who are not contributing? How low must the average living standard be for everyone to be equal, and what does that equality contribute to the advancement of mankind? But most importantly, who decides and enforces the definition of equality? That is the ideological debate in a nutshell. Do those who work actually own what they earned, or does everyone else have the right to take what others have earned? That is the great question of our time, and that is the true basis on which to make your life decisions. Ideological differences lead to behavioral differences. And so ideology does matter.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 01:06:04 +0000
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