" In opposition to the political ideas that have most recently guided ideological controversy around the world, but similarly to those that used to influence such debate in the 19th century, deep freedom combines a devotion to the empowerment of the ordinary person – a raising up of ordinary life to a higher plane of intensity, scope and capability – with a disposition to reshape the institutional arrangements of society in the service of such empowerment. In the design of social, economic and democratic institutions, deep freedom has priority over any form of equality of circumstance. Equality of opportunity is a fragmentary aspect of deep freedom."
The converse of deep freedom is of course shallow freedom. I think that these are easier to define, becaouse to most of us they are more tangible. Shallow freedoms are those granted to wage-slaves to give them the impression of choice; the illusion of autonomy. John Mellencamp gives a very incisive depiction of this in his song Freedom's Road.
The obstructions that we find along our journey along Freedom's Road are the same institutional obstructions that prevent people from really being free. Many people are obliged to take poorly paying jobs just to pay the rent or pay for expensive food. They are wage slaves earning a fraction of the value that their work produces and paying a fortune in housing that ultimately will only further enrich the corporate banks.
John Mellencamp - Freedom's Road, 2007.
I'm navigating my way down Freedom's Road
Trying to make my way back home
I got my foot to the floor
But she must need bleeding
This car just don't want to roll
Freedom's Road must be under construction
Sometimes you wonder what kind of freedom they're talking
If you're here looking for the devil
You'll find him on Freedom's Road
Freedom's Road, Freedom's Road
If you want to take a ride
Well you've got to pay the toll
Freedom's Road, Freedom's Road
If you're looking for the devil
He's out there on Freedom's Road
Sometimes there's rape sometimes there'll be murder
Sometimes just darkness everywhere
No passing signs and barbed wire fences
Misinformation but no one cares
Freedom's Road can get narrow
No one wants to know you
If there's no pork in your barrel
If you're here looking for the devil
He's out there on Freedom's Road
Freedom's Road, Freedom's Road
If you want to take a ride
Well you've got to pay the toll
Freedom's Road, Freedom's Road
If you're looking for the devil
He's out there on Freedom's Road
You can drop your bombs
You can beat the people senseless
But that won't get you anywhere
Hide your agendas behind public consensus
And say that this world just ain't fair
Freedom's Road is a promise to the people
You'll never fool us now
With all your lying and cheating
If you're here wanting a crown in heaven
It's out there on Freedom's Road
Freedom's Road, Freedom's Road
If you want to take a ride
Well you've got to pay the toll
Freedom's Road, Freedom's Road
If you're looking for the devil
He's out there on Freedom's Road
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