The book, John Dewey wrote in Common Sense, gives "encouragement and practical support to reactionaries," in part by identifying "every form of socialism and collectivism with state or governmental socialism." Lewis Mumford complained of Lippmann's "strange collectivist heresy hunt," in which he posited the only social options as a free economy and a militarized collectivism. And Charles Merriam expressed his consternation about "an attempt to state a theory and formulate a practice of neoliberalism" that demonstrated "illiberalism and intolerance toward those who differ from the new credo." Lippmann's refusal to accept the legitimacy of gradations of planning lent a potent sense of urgency to his rhetoric, which in turn troubled those who did not share his manifest belief in the contemporary dangers of nuance.

Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, loc. 157