Busting the Bureaucratic Myth, One Amazing Achievement at a Time Federal employees accomplished a lot last year—it’s time to give them the respect they deserve. May 3, 2021 02:58 PM ET Federal employees protect our health, safety and well-being—providing us with everything from disaster relief and environmental cleanup to new medical treatments and vaccines. Yet all too often, federal employees are disrespected as uninspired bureaucrats and robotic paper pushers, or dismissed as members of a shady “deep state” working to undermine our democracy. Recent policies—like the now-repealed executive order that would have made it easier to fire career civil servants—is only the latest example of a decades-long pattern of deriding federal employees that has caused public trust in government to reach a historic low.