Bingo.
I've crossed paths with MANY public sector employees in a professional capacity. Like any other pool of people, there are some shitty performers and some dead-weight. But the vast majority take their jobs quite seriously (the people depend on them for some pretty essential things), and they face enormous pressure - from their superiors, from the public (which wants A+ services while paying the lowest taxes/fees). I've worked with people who were proud to have kept a critical system functioning on a shoestring budget, literally held together in some places with bolts and baling wire, because that's what the public demanded (by the way, the deferred maintenance costs ALWAYS catch up with you eventually, no matter what the public demands).
Truly, I've worked with hundreds if not thousands of people in both the public and private sector. And in my experience, the percentage of dead-weight/drones/I-don't-give-a-shit folks is about the same wherever you go. Small private companies, big private companies, small public sector employers and big ones.
I know this is hard to believe, but there are actually people who are really proud of the jobs they do, providing things like drinking water, electricity, transportation, and the like to their fellow citizens. They know they don't make the biggest bucks, but they are genuinely happy doing what they do.