I’m a federal employee who has served under every President since Clinton. The work is the same—we implement whatever the White House wants, which changes a bit over the years and depending on the party in power, but not by much.
It’s generally the “my boss’ goals are my goals” mentality like any other employer (I know there were some exceptions and some entire agencies tried to resist Trump’s appointees), but I don’t think the bureaucracy presents as much of a danger as you think. Staff who resist new directives—whether from Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, or Biden—don’t and won’t get promoted.
I witnessed firsthand in 2018-2019 the embed of a group calling itself “The Resistance” inside the federal government. They were fervently Anti-Trump.
It’s a good bet you missed all that. Given that the federal workforce is in the millions with millions more in closely aligned federal contractors who work alongside federal employees, it could be you’re blinded to undercurrents that hide treasonous schemes to participate in subverting federal departments and agencies.
I was offered a GS-14 to be groomed for a GM-15 position. I turned it down. It was brought to me by people I had worked with who worked with a retiring GM-15. This fellow brought me in to his office, was very friendly and laid it out that he would push for me to take over.
The reason given for my turning it down was politically acceptable explaining that my skill set demanded much more compensation in private markets. This is what you have to say when you turn down a high level job. It gives AFGE and their cousins fightback talk to maneuver for upward adjustments in federal pay scales.
If I had described the real reason for turning down the offer, I would have been branded a pariah never to be considered again. The real reason was cultural. I saw a woke crowd promoting themselves to the top while old school fed employees sat idly by trying to figure out to be seen.
Although it’s true that fed employment is 95% procedures leaving an impression nothing much ever changes, it’s the other 5% that are captured by woke embeds that steer policy. For example, Trump policies were deliberately put on backburners to run out the clock.
Your comments are therefore potential evidence that nothing much changes because the SES and Administrative Directors allow the clocks to run out on new policy directives they don’t like.
You see very little change because people above you will not allow change.
Good to know. I’m glad to hear that, and I definitely recognize the need for skilled federal employees. (I’m a patent attorney, so I interact with USPTO patent examiners on a regular basis).