Mercedes Schneider checks out the linkages between ALEC and Cato, the think tanks that are doing their best to advance freedom from government, I.e. deregulation and privatization of everything in the public sector.
One common link: the billionaire Koch brothers.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Diane, thank you for your persistent repetition of the connections and the facts. I must admit that when I see an article like this I get discouraged that this is not already common knowledge.
(sp) Mercedes Schneider …
I think that most Limited Government people are “Constitutionalists”, rather than people who just want to privatize everything. There seems to be a huge misjudgment and misunderstanding between Americans who all want the best for America and for American citizens. As a “Constitutional Conservative”, who has worked closely with and dearly loves a lot of highly impoverished urban youth and their families since 1997, I have a good handle on both sides of some important issues. A lot of our differences are semantics only.The real differences rest in the contrast between big government and limited government. Most Conservatives are catching on to the privatization of public schools, through the Charter School movement, realizing now that “Big Corporation” is as dangerous as “Big Government”. They are also beginning to realize that the inferior, “teaching to the test” Common Core is just a sneaky way to control just about every young American and their families, with Big Corporation/Big Government getting the power and the money! And they have begun to see, and fight, the use of federal funds to lure the states into the trap.
Thank you, lamb. This was a very helpful and well-argued explanation about the blurring of traditional ideological lines on this issue.
I believe that privatization WILL ultimately be defeated and it will succeed through a coalition that has already begun between what is normally characterized as the “rural conservative right” and the “urban progressive left”; we’ll soon have the ear of the “suburban centrist moderate”…and when that happens we’ll all collectively dance on the grave of the mendacious fraud that was known as “education reform.”
I generally think freedom from government is the right way to go.
Education is a BIG exception, however–public education should NEVER be privatized.
The problem with government is that there are too many people in gov’t who seek to enrich and aggrandize themselves instead of serving the public trust or a lack of public virtue.
And that is a potential death-knell to our republic.
Glad you understand, from a Conservative viewpoint, the need for a Federal Office of Education. Certain courses of study should always be the standard in every public school in America, in order to “form a more perfect union”, to give equal information to all students. Math, language arts including reading comprehension, civics and the role of government including the Constitution and Bill of Rights and what it means to be an American Citizen with the Rights and Responsibilities, and health education.
Yes, we seeing the death knell to public education, and to the Republic.
The connections are far beyond ALEC and CATO it goes all the way to the Prez. The list would be a very long one. Have you seen the increase in wealth of the Koch Brothers over the last 10 years? They are laughing at us at how cheaply, concerning the cost of doing business for the gains, they are buying up the legislators for their purposes which are not in our best interests.