04370
August 20, 2004

Why I’m voting on the world’s behalf

Commentary by Aimee Moiso
Special to the Presbyterian News Service

Editor’s Note:Aimee Moiso is an M.Div. student at San Francisco Theological Seminary and attended the General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches as a participant in its Global Institute of Theology. She has also contributed to Horizons and Presbyterians Today. — Jerry L. Van Marter.

SAN ANSELMO, CA — I was sitting in a plenary session at the General Council of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) when a sudden thought struck me: a lot of people around the world would probably give large sums of money to be able to vote in the U.S. election in November.

      This idea was not born of anyone actually offering me money for my vote, of course. Instead, it came from the realization that the decisions made by the government of the United States continue to have a dramatic impact on the rest of the world.

      Delegates and visitors gathered in Accra, Ghana, for the WARC General Council July 30-Aug. 13 heard presentation after presentation about the negative effects of global economic injustice. Speakers used statistics, photographs, analysis and personal testimony to express their anger, frustration, sadness and resolve about the economic order that leaves so many mired in abject poverty and plunders the environment for financial gain.

      The global economic system as it currently functions primarily benefits the wealthiest and most powerful among us while the most vulnerable are left behind. Neo-liberal economic ideology that supports unlimited growth and unrestrained accumulation of capital has put profits ahead of the needs of people and has commodified the natural world and its resources.

      In Accra the WARC General Council — comparable to a PC(USA) General Assembly — denounced the consequences of this economic system as contrary to God’s desire for humans and creation. As the Council’s summary document stated, “How can we say that we believe that Jesus Christ is Lord over all of life and not stand against all that denies the promise of fullness of life to the world?”

      None of the speakers claimed that the United States alone is to blame for widespread economic oppression. More importantly, no one even hinted that the U.S. church condones the evident and growing gulf between rich and poor people in our world that results from oppression.

      But in truth, the United States has a large hand in the global imbalance that threatens life for millions of God’s children. We who are citizens of this nation live in the world’s last remaining economic, political and military superpower. Because we wield the power, the decisions of our elected leaders affect the global community every day.

      And that’s why I think many people would pay to have my vote this November.

      The members of the WARC who gathered in Ghana made clear the threats to life that deny the fullness promised by Jesus. Our brothers and sisters in Christ around the world have raised their voices — and we have joined their song — to proclaim that only Jesus Christ is Lord over all of life. The question that remains is how American Presbyterians will respond to this call.

      We who are part of the worldwide Reformed family and live in this nation have a unique responsibility not only to vote regularly, but to vote with a global conscience.

      For my part, when I cast my vote this November, and in all elections to come, I will think of Howard, who told me about the horrors of the AIDS pandemic in Kenya; Hannah, who described the changes to Taiwanese culture because of globalization; Charles, who lamented the lack of access to education in Brazil; and Joseph, who stressed the need for continued debt relief in Ghana.

      I won’t ever sell my vote. And with God’s help, I also hope to never take it for granted.