Overcompensation

I've never wanted to live anything other than an unobtrusive life, even on the money front. I didn't want to be too implicated in anything, certainly not the tidal wave of waste now represented by our American culture. 

I copped an attitude on this at an impressionable age, having read E. F. Schumacher and other early environmental and social writers, and I found that I liked having a hard connection with productive work. 

For which, when I got paid, I would buy things like food and shelter and clothing, avoiding any ego-enhancing effects that might ensue by being overcompensated for doing nothing, like being a lawyer or something.

My ego is still uninflated and in fact I feel more vulnerable than I like, thanks to the irrepressible political insanity of the Republicans, who seem to only respect being overcompensated for doing nothing. 

It's a strange world.