What are the Importance of Ideology​

Ideology is an important factor in determining how people make decisions.  In order to make good decisions, you have to have an open mind to all of the potential solutions for the issue under consideration.

 Based on a composite of about ten different definitions that I could find, ideology can best be described in one sentence as a set of opinions, beliefs, theories, or principles (usually political or religious in nature) held by an individual, group, or society that explains and lends legitimacy to their actions in their own minds.

However, ideology is much more complicated than this.  And ideology has nothing to do with intelligence.  It is more like a set of glasses through which we view the world.  And being nonideological is somewhat different than being pragmatic, which means dealing with issues practically or realistically, although some amount of pragmatism certainly goes into making good decisions.