A couple of weeks ago, someone asked me why on earth I would retire in New Jersey, where the taxes are highest in the nation.

You have probably seen the Honda ad for used cars. "It may be used, but it's still a Honda!" 

I may be a retired foreign missionary, but I'm still a missionary. Missionaries go where there are needs. For 38 years, we helped poverty stricken people in Eastern Europe, worked with drug addicts in Western Europe, and we assisted political refugees who had experienced persecution and hardship under brutal dictatorships. Economic and social needs were part of our work, but a major part was dealing with spiritual needs.

No one wants to talk about spiritual needs today even though these are often the root cause of many other needs. In fact, if spiritual needs are met, many can solve their problems with little help from others.

LAWS, MORALITY and ETHICS

I have been blogging and writing a lot about greed, but was surprised to hear both presidential candidates talk about greed in their debate as though this was some sort of criminal offence.

Please! Greed is the American way of life and there is nothing illegal about greed. That is a spiritual problem and we dare not mix religion with politics. That is a matter for churches -- and churches dare not talk about politics. Somewhere in our Constitution, there is purportedly a statement to that effect although I have not yet located it.

For the secularist, greed goes hand in hand with generosity. Many of our elected government representatives want to be generous to financial institutions which are floundering due to their greed. Because politicians need all their own money (often donated by lobbyists and unidentified foreigners through Internet transactions that can't be traced, so it would be unethical to use it for anything other than personal needs), they become greedy for taxpayers' money.

Greed, like laziness and many other things, is not criminal. Having sex with anyone who is willing is not illegal unless one of the partners is underage. Even lying is no crime unless it is under oath before a court of law. Even there, it could be explained away as a false interpretation or understanding. These are all matters of religion, which has been banned from public life since the sixties.

That is why some people are furious about Sarah Palin running for a high political office. She is a religious fanatic. She shoots innocent animals and eats moose soup. She shows a contempt for science because she believes that nature with all its beauty and intricateness could not have been the product of mere chance while the simplest inventions of man are heralded as strokes of genius. She was cold-hearted enough to allow her Downs syndrome baby to be born rather than have it slaughtered.

MY SUGGESTED SOLUTION TO OUR FISCAL PROBLEM

The original $700 Billion bailout document was only 2 1/2 pages long. My solution to all of America's problems can be formulated in one paragraph.

First of all, we divide America into two separate parts. We are almost there already. Those of us who deal with spiritual needs and believe in God should have no part in the secularist government. We neither contribute nor receive anything from them. The same is true for them. We do what we believe is right in our part of America and the secularists do what they want in theirs. That is complete separation of church and state, which is what the secularists want. Any secularist who wants anything from us must cross that line and join us. We promise not to meddle in their affairs. The secularists can do whatever they want to each other, with each other and against each other completely free from religious restraint. They can not argue their case on the basis of greed, honesty or other religious premises. They will have to figure out how evolution will solve their problems.

Are we ready to vote?