I don't think I am about to get my way anytime soon though so I applaud those people with pet cats who keep them inside 100% of the time. I also applaud cat microchipping and registration controls that are increasingly being rolled out and enforced.
Anyway, my point is that we're likely after contained cats than inside cats. It gives them more fun and makes the house cleaner as well.
Note: this comes from an animal lover (and sure, I have a soft spot for cats) who finds flippant regards like "their complete eradication from the continent".
Nothing should ever be considered for eradication. The lazy solution is to eradicate. The hard solution is to "empathize" (i.e. study the 'problematic' component within a complex system) and figure out how to create a new space for it within the system/reconfigure the system around it.
I find that people who lock cats inside don't empathize with them much. And those who let them roam don't empathize much with wildlife. The best system may be the one where cats are not considered pets anymore.
In the country having a few cats means no mice, no rats, no snakes around the house.