Dear Editor: I spent Friday morning (July 9) at the Career Expo at the Rockdale Career Academy off Parker Road. The Expo was being promoted by US Rep. Hank Johnson, so I didn’t expect much, but I gave him the benefit of the doubt in that he was wanting to get jobs to his voters.

Nope. There may have been snippets of information that a few folks could use, but for the most part it was a wasted morning.

Chairman Oden was there receiving accolades from various state and federal employees. He then gave a little speech, basically stating that Rockdale was well-positioned for success because we have I-20 and the CSX railroad, and for everyone to shop in Rockdale before they left for the day. But the quote that stung my ears came when he was talking about employment with the federal government. He said, and repeated, that the federal government was the country’s largest employer, and he said this with distinct pride in his statement. He ended it with "and they never bounce a check," implying that once you get a job with the federal government you can be assured of always getting a paycheck.

Wow. I always thought it was the financial strength of the private sector that made this country rich and powerful, not the employment of the federal government.

Every dollar given to federal employees is recycled money, meaning it first came out of one taxpayer’s wallet long before it ever made it to the paycheck of a government employee. But money in the private sector is, usually, new money, money created out of demand for goods and services. One reason our economy is stagnant is that we’re dependent on recycled money and have little ability or drive to create new money, and the federal government is doing little to assist re-energizing the private sector.

I saw his speech as just one more glimpse into the political philosophy of Rockdale County Commission Chairman Oden.