The general implication is that "civil servants/government employees" are the people that fill up all those unnecessary jobs at the city halls, the DMV, the INS, etc.

Another group that is typically excluded from this phrase (despite being technically part of it) are your Congressmen, the various Judges/Justices, and the Whack Job President.

I'm not really certain what to say about postal workers. They catch a lot of well-deserved flak, but also do a heck of a lot of work. Anyway.

So, no. When people bitch about "civil servants" being an oxymoron, they really aren't including those groups. Even though sometimes...