Dogs are conservative, cats are liberal

After winning the debate competition at an academic camp a couple of years ago, my daughter and her debate partner challenged another debating duo to an exhibition match on the issue, resolved: dogs are better pets than cats. My daughter, whom we affectionately call St. Ann of Assisi because of her love for all creatures with the power of voluntary motion, argued that dogs are superior to cats due to their penchant for loyalty. You have never heard of a cat, her tem argued, who dragged its master from a fire. This, it turns out, was the deciding factor for the judges, who rendered their decision by howling.

Indeed, this confirmed my own (admittedly intuition-based) belief that dogs are conservative and cats are liberal. Why? Because loyalty is a fundamentally conservative virtue, along with every other virtue that places responsibilities ahead of rights, allegiance before autonomy.

Dogs have it, and cats don't.

But several days ago a report came that a cat saved its family's life by scratching its master's face to alert it of a cigarette-caused fire in their home. Jonah Goldberg at the National Review greeted this report with the skepticism it warranted in a blog post several days ago over at The Corner:

Don't Believe the Hype:

Cat saves family's life. First of all, look at the source: the French Press. Second, Occam's razor people. What is the most likely scenario? That it tried to save his family's life? Or that it had a panic attack? Heck, maybe it figured its family was as good as dead and so why not start eating? Do we even know the cat didn't light the fire itself?

That was several days ago. Now, however, Goldberg has gotten to the bottom of the story and exposed this "Hero Cat" for what it really is.

Check it out.