I can't speak for things like the DMV, but everyone that I work with in the city I work for cares about their job, the citizens of the city, and the other employees and departments in the city. My position is support for basically all the departments and is a very real job in every sense of the word.

There is a huge difference in working to make money for your company and everything is structured around that, and working within budgets and trying to maximize what you can get done with the budget you have. For me the 1st option was far more soul crushing than the 2nd.

Obviously it's not for everyone, but to act like every government employee at all levels are indifferent drones is just stupid. The original poster is looking for something with a different culture and sounds like working for the government could be a good fit.