Meyer perceived, and rejected, the New Conservatism as a social philosophy in which the individual inquirer was always subordinated to the established logic of the group. At the same time, he was very clear that his criticisms of Kirk did not align him with the growing body of economists who emphasized free markets as a panacea for the problems faced by American society. Of all the disciplines that study human society, he situated economics as the "closest to an exact science" and "the farthest removed from philosophical competence, from the capacity to establish value."

Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion, loc. 378