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Some public servants deserve great credit

Government at all levels can be frustrating, even infuriating. But there is an enormous, important difference between the politicians and bureaucrats who too often are the face of government and the hundreds of thousands of good, dedicated public servants who also are on local, state and federal payrolls.

Remember, for example, guards at the veterans memorial in Washington, D.C., during a shutdown a few years back? They were ordered to keep the public out. But when a group of World War II veterans showed up, the guards saluted, thanked them for their service and welcomed them onto the memorial’s grounds.

The current government shutdown is showing that fact again. While our elected representatives and officials are in Washington, collecting their paychecks for not doing their jobs, the bureaucrats and public employees who do the heavy lifting of government, from cleaning and maintaining national parks to helping farmers with the red tape of government programs are not getting paid, many of them still doing their work because they know people need them to do it.

We salute those who know what it means to be public servant.

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