The enshittification of government: recognition matters

As a former contractor for several government agencies, I’ve been thinking a lot about the recent dismantling of several government agencies.

When I was living in DC and working at one agency or another in the early 2000s, the old joke is that the government employees were “mushrooms” — working in the dark and thriving in shit. Over the years, since Ronald Reagan joked that “the nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” government employees have become collectively devalued. This devaluation has only accelerated since the COVID pandemic, to the extent that President Biden gave preemptive pardons to many people who were just doing their jobs to avoid future prosecution.

This is certainly anecdotal evidence, but to see the contrast in the valuation of government employees over time, here is (left) the plaque my grandfather received upon his retirement from government service in 1965 compared to (right) the one my father received upon his retirement in 2001. My grandfather’s is made of mostly wood and metal and calls out his amount and type of service along with the model of the USS Kahmehameha that he worked on building, while my father’s is a printed piece of paper, with the length of service only, in a plastic folder.