I live in a DC suburb crawling with federales and observe their fairly comfortable lifestyle. Most are, admittedly, SES-types. Dad's always home by 6pm, has every holiday and weekend off, nice vacation when kids are off from school. Can't think of one family that hasn't been to Disney World .. not the French Riviera. It's not fat city but it's quite comfortable. And it's secure. They all get to retire fairly young and live on decent pensions. All live in nice houses, not mansions; drive nice cars, not Rolls Royces.
In the meanwhile, they have taken NO RISK. None, zip, nada. Life is an even keel. I can't imagine one of them starting a company, even one that provides the same service they are salaried for with the government .. too risky.
Try comparing, say, the accountant who spends 30 years in the employ of Uncle Sam vs. the guy who goes out and starts his own accounting firm. I would venture a guess that the latter will work till the day he dies, even if he's been wildly successful after years of not having drawn a pay check for months at a time, much less having had a day off .. but that success, if it comes, is the payoff for his risk.
These are the choices made by people's personality types. You're either a corporate-type and take the safer, more secure big company or government job, or you're an entrepreneurial type who will venture out on your own and risk losing everything.
I think you are confounding government lawyers with SES types. One of the deals when you take that kind of job is that you LOSE your weekends as well as your opportunities for a business on the side.