E-Mail This Article to a Friend Right, and wrong In his new book, former secretary of labor Robert Reich speaks out about the radical-conservative threat facing our country BY TAMARA WIEDER

IF YOU’RE ONE of a growing number of discouraged American Democrats, Robert Reich thinks you should take heart. The country, he believes, may soon be heading in a new direction. In his new book, Reason: Why Liberals Will Win the Battle for America (Knopf), Reich, who served as secretary of labor in the Clinton administration and now teaches at Brandeis University, outlines the growing threat posed by the radical conservatives (a group he terms "Radcons"), but argues that liberal positions are actually in line with the majority on issues ranging from abortion rights to tax cuts to the environment. If liberals and progressives can learn to unite and organize the way the right does, Reich says, a new era of liberalism could well be on the horizon.

Q: Why the book? How did this book come to be?

A: I got so fed up appearing on right-wing radio and television stations, and yelling with hosts, without being able to get forth basic ideas of progressives and liberals, that it seemed to me it was important to make the case. Also, I’ve been concerned in recent years that the Democratic Party has not made a sufficiently strong case for liberal and progressive principles. They’re more important than ever. And finally, of course, the Bush administration. I don’t believe that Bush is the cause of the radical-conservative ascendance; he’s the product of it. But it’s very important that liberals and progressives have the courage of our convictions at this point in time.

Q: Do you worry that the book is preaching to the choir?

A: First, the choir needs to understand its own convictions and be able to argue them persuasively. Secondly, there are many independents out there, and even more people who don’t call themselves liberals but who actually, when you scratch the surface, agree with liberal and progressive ideas. They need to understand the threats now being posed to them.

Q: For those who haven’t read the book, talk about the people you call Radcons: who they are, and why you think they’re so dangerous.

A: They’re a movement uniting right-wing evangelical Protestants and big business. Extremely disciplined. And they stand for several ideas that are dangerous for this country. First, they want to eliminate the barrier between church and state. Second, they want to reduce taxes on unearned income and widen the gap between rich and poor. And third, they want to assert American military power without regard to international law. These ideas used to be at the fringe of the Republican Party; they are now center stage, and they are being given enormous legitimacy by the right-wing media. They are exactly opposite to the liberal and progressive ideals on which this country has been based.

Q: You talk about how the radical conservatives have distorted the term "liberalism." What’s your definition of liberalism?

A: Keeping church and state separate. Fighting concentrations of economic power that undermine democracy. Expanding social insurance, including health care. And extending the reach of international law and human rights. These principles all interact. They have to do with the interdependence of all of us.

Q: Why do you think it’s been so difficult for Democrats to be as cohesive and organized as the Radcons?

A: Partly because progressives and liberals are fundamentally anti-authoritarian. We don’t march in lockstep, we are independent, we squabble among ourselves, we’re undisciplined by nature. The Radcons are much more authoritarian in temperament and personality. They are better disciplined. And they’ve transformed themselves over the last 20 years into a coherent and cohesive movement. We haven’t.

Q: How do Democrats do that?

A: George W. Bush is propelling us to do so. I’ve never seen such unity among Democrats as now. I’ve never witnessed such energy and organization on the liberal and progressive side of the ledger as now. I think we’re beginning to see the start of a new progressive movement in this country, similar to what we saw in the first decades of the 20th century. As I said, when you scratch the surface, most Americans do take liberal positions, even if they don’t call themselves liberal. Sixty percent of Americans believe that women should be free to choose abortion and reproductive rights. The vast majority hold to the view that concentrated economic power is dangerous, and don’t think the tax cuts are fair. And according to the polls, most Americans are deeply worried that the Iraqi war will create more terrorism, not less. The liberal view is the dominant view, and if we become mobilized and organized, it will be possible to take back this country.

Q: The liberal view may be the dominant view, but why isn’t that widely known or discussed?

A: First, because the opinion talk media, that is, talk radio and talk television, are overwhelmingly right-wing. Rush Limbaugh is on 600 radio stations; Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity on 450 each. The tiny liberal upstart Air America is on barely four stations. Most talk radio and talk television mimics the right-wing leaders. It seems that advertisers have concluded that it’s a formula for success. But they haven’t really tried anything on the other side. So Americans are being told big lies over and over again, in Orwellian fashion. Most still believe that Saddam Hussein had something to do with 9/11; that the so-called death tax — that’s what they call it — affects everybody when they die; that the No Child Left Behind Act means a lot more money for schools; that the Healthy Forest Initiative is about making our nation’s forests healthier, rather than the truth of the matter, which is letting the lumbering and timbering interests ... giving them free rein. The big lies told often enough do begin to take hold. Frustrated and angry working-class people are easily persuaded that their problems are due to affirmative action, or feminists who have become successful professionals, or immigrants, or foreigners. The right has wielded the politics of resentment very effectively.