Not Oprah’s Book Club: 538 Ways to Live, Work, and Play Like a Liberal

In author Justin Kreb’s own words,this is “a collection of small ideas about reflecting progressive values in your everyday life as well as a big idea about what liberal means and why we need to live liberally.” In mine: It’s a sanity-saving, moral guide to living in a contemporary society hell bent on crushing you with its consumer choices, paralyzing you with moral relativism, and making you want to go numb with all the pain and injustice. I know, I’m more dramatic than good ol’ Krebs, but we understand one another anyway.
538 Ways to Live, Work, and Play Like a Liberal begins with Justin claiming the “original L word”: LIBERAL. He thinks it is important to reclaim and shout from the rooftops. But what does it even mean?

Being liberal is not only a political philosophy–liberal is how you live your life and interact with neighbors, coworkers, and strangers on the street. It’s not just how you vote on Election Day, but how you vote with your wallet every day. It’s not only what you chant at a rally, but what you laugh at or rock out to on your iPod.

Here are just a dozen of my favorite of Justin’s recommendations:

• Just look around for the features that create shared space…literally the ‘common ground’ that can help turn strangers into neighbors and neighbors into friends.
• Visit your neighborhood parks.
• Create a play street.
• Share an internet connection and wi-fi router.
• Provide flex time.
• When looking for a movie to go to, ask yourself: Does it trade on love or violence?
• Find the local diner.
• When looking for a place of worship, ask yourself Does the congregation respect non-congregants?
• Advocate for food access.
• Be a conscious shareholder.
• Contribute to campaigns.
• Remember to translate for volunteers.

Super bonus: he quotes both Molly Ivins and Emma Goldman on the same page. You go Justin.
The book drops July 4th (of course). Don’t miss out. Justin is also running a Kickstarter campaign to raise money to help with his book tour which he’s calling the “Great American Roadtrip.” Justin explains it: “My goal is to visit 50 cities between now and the midterm election with the goal of talking about liberal values and convening and empowering local liberals. I’ll be keeping costs low but I do need to pay for bus tickets, gas and plane fare at times; for promotional copies of the book to give to my hosts and the occasional lodging when I’m in between chapters.”