The conventional wisdom — really, it’s an Article of Faith for the Republican Party — is that the federal bureaucracy is a hopeless swamp of waste, fraud, and inefficiency staffed by lazy, incompetent idlers.

But is it?

It’s a question worth considering, since it’s the rationale that drives the chainsaw — or wood chipper — that the Trump administration has allowed Elon Musk to wield against the bureaucracy with haphazard abandon.

Let’s stipulate that it’s simply in the nature of things that any large organization — the Walmart Corporation, Harvard University, the U.S. Army, the Rotary Club— is going to harbor a certain amount of waste and inefficiency, even fraud and corruption, as well as some goldbricking freeloaders.

But how much? Seventy percent? Forty-five? Twenty? Two percent? We don’t really know, do we?

In fact, our estimation of the level of waste and inefficiency in government depends largely on two unreliable sources:

First, conservatives have always promoted the notion that the government, at all levels, is too big; the corollary contention that the government is also inefficient serves that narrative.

Of course, the definitions of “too big” and “inefficient” are subject to considerable interpretation. Furthermore, the current Republican administration is intent on cutting both taxes and spending, a goal that is well supported by the proposition that the federal government is bloated with waste.

Second, our perception of government is influenced by our personal experience. Waiting 20 minutes in line at the Post Office may obscure the fact that the P.O. delivers around 115 billion pieces of mail every year with remarkable efficiency and is probably the best in the world.

In short, our estimation of the efficiency of the federal government is largely based on a couple of fairly doubtful sources: A political party that has an interest in sowing skepticism about institutions that it would like to weaken or destroy; and our own anecdotal perceptions, which, let’s face it, may not be entirely accurate: We’re much more likely to remember an annoying highway construction delay than the amazing efficiency with which we can traverse the entire country on the Interstate Highway System. Thanks, Uncle Sam!

But there’s more to this: Men such as Musk and President Donald Trump often have an inherent suspicion of and contempt for working people, that is, anyone “below,” say, their companies’ vice presidents and high-level managers.

I can’t prove this, of course, but it helps explain how Trump can allow Musk to treat American federal workers with such dismissive disrespect. The assumption is that they are lazy, inefficient and essentially useless and can thus be fired with no regard for their actual performance or value to running the bureaucracy, a significant part of which is actually essential.

It also helps explain the cruelty that Musk and Trump have imposed on the thousands of federal workers that they have fired or forced out.

I have a little more faith in the American worker, though I’ll concede that some of my perceptions are based on anecdote rather than data.

Consider my old dad: He was a federal employee for 44 years. His shift began at the U.S. Post Office every day at 6:15 a.m. His walking route was about 12 miles long, and his leather P.O. satchel was designed to carry 35 pounds of mail. And neither rain nor snow nor sleet nor hail kept him away from his appointed rounds, nor, more to the point, did South Texas heat. He retired with 3,700 hours of unused sick leave, because he always went to work and did his job, as best he could.

My mail still gets delivered dependably. My Social Security check arrives without fail. During my single exchange with the I.R.S., they were nice to me. I just drove a thousand miles to Wichita, KS, and back on a well-designed and well-maintained interstate highway. I’m protected by the best military in the world. I can drink the water nearly anywhere in the U.S. with confidence.

So when Musk and Trump tell me that the government is hopelessly corrupt and inept, I don’t automatically believe them. Maybe you shouldn’t either.

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ABOUT THE WRITER

John M. Crisp, an op-ed columnist for Tribune News Service, lives in Texas and can be reached at jcrispcolumns@gmail.com

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