The traditionalist Rossiter rather than Kirk or Nesbit was Meyer's target. Meyer even granted the New Conservatives were correct that virtue is "the most important of problems". The fundamental problem was that Rossiter insisted upon a "positive freedom" that changed freedom from a means to an end, just as did the utilitarian libertarians. Contrary to the Catholic philosopher Stanley Parry's claim that Meyer did not even recognize the family as a natural community, Meyer called the family and state "necessary associations". The family was different from all other institutions since children were not full individuals and thus required protection and limited rights. He argued that the state actually had been a hindrance to both virtue and the family rather than their champion. As far as educating children, prior to state control schools taught virtue and the truths of Western civilization and now do not.