I don’t think is is a principled stand. They could give a dam- about them. They are just pandering to a voting block like they did with the Blacks. No principle involved. You give them too much credit.
I know. I was trying to paraphrase Arthur Bach (Dudley Moore)’s father in ‘Arthur.’
I do think that ‘civil servants’ tend to forget that money, including their salaries, does not grow on trees and that budgets ultimately rely on confiscation of property aka taxes.
They can’t see past their next election, of course.