August 17, 2009 4:16PM # We’re Paying Attention! By [Neal McCluskey](https://www.cato.org/people/neal-mccluskey) --- SHARE In[a new column](http://www.newsweek.com/id/212116)waxing poetic about Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and the Obama administration’s efforts to transform American education, *Newsweek* columnist Eleanor Clift suggests that the “right” is not paying attention to the looming “federal takeover of education.” If they were, they’d be screaming their heads off. *Au contraire*! We at Cato are paying close attention and screaming (well, raising our voices) about it. In a recent [*New York* *Daily News* op-ed](https://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=10446), Andrew Coulson inveighs against national academic standards. In Cato’s [latest Daily Podcast](//www.cato.org/jwmediaplayer/nacht/nacht-nobutton.swf&icons=false&type=sound%22%3E%3C/embed%3E%3C/p%3E%0A%3C/object%3E%3Cp%3E), I give the down and dirty on the so-called “Race to the Top” fund controlled by Duncan. And there are many other people on what Clift probably considers the right — libertarians and conservatives lumped together — who are most certainly paying attention. Unfortunately, many on the conservative side actually favor a federal takeover — whether they’ll [admit it or not ](https://www.cato.org/2009/08/06/its-all-voluntary-but-the-taxes/)- which might be why Clift doesn’t hear the clamor from the right she’d expect. If anything, she might actually hear some modest — and mistaken — applause. ##### Related Tags [Education](https://www.cato.org/education), [Center for Educational Freedom](https://www.cato.org/center-educational-freedom) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).