When former Ald. Devon Reid (8th) left office, something was missing. He decided to fill that hole by walking over 1,500 miles from Evanston to South Carolina to speak with people across the country about the economy.
Reid served as the youngest city clerk in Evanston’s history before representing the 8th Ward in City Council. He lost his reelection bid last year to Ald. Matt Rodgers (8th).
“I’m already seeing America in a new light, and I’m seeing people who come from very different walks of life than myself in a new light,” Reid said.
He began his walk, dubbed the “Walk for Economic Sanity,” on March 20. He started his walk rolling a 150-pound cart of supplies alongside him.
Reid explained his motivations for making the hike as both economic and personal. He was struggling with his finances and mental health after leaving City Council, he said.
“I’ve had somewhat of an — I don’t want to say existential crisis, but I’ve certainly wondered — there’s so much going on in our country, what the hell am I doing to try to make a difference,” Reid said.
Along his journey, Reid said he hopes to “dispel common myths about how our economy works and who it’s working for.” He has been speaking with everyday people about issues including inequality, poverty and healthcare.
He has also become interested in Modern Monetary Theory, a heterodox economic theory that posits that governments can print their own money and do not need to rely on taxation for spending and borrowing. It has become popular among some left-leaning economists.
“MMT is a sort of framework that allows you to recognize that that’s the wrong question, that finding money is actually the easy part,” said Stephanie Kelton, the author of “The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy.” “The difficult part of the challenge is managing the government’s finances responsibly so that government spending doesn’t produce unwanted inflationary problems.”
People of all political backgrounds have supported his walk, Reid said. He has received supplies from residents, and his GoFundMe has reached over $17,000, with more than 330 individual donations.
Reid said he also hopes to meet with experts such as Kelton and Pavlina Tcherneva, an economics professor at Bard College who specializes in Modern Money Theory.
“He’s really spreading the message door-to-door rather than relying on some pundits to appear on TV and explain it to the general public,” Tcherneva said. “So, I would be very curious how people engage with those ideas, how they receive them.”
Reid said that many of the people he has spoken to support MMT because they care about their community.
The former councilmember has been documenting his journey on social media. He currently has more than 21,000 followers on Instagram.
Reid said he hopes his videos can shed new light on the U.S. economy.
“I think together we can change the way we think about our economy, and push for better from our elected leaders in the federal government,” he said.
Reid said he plans to end his journey in Piedmont, South Carolina, the place where he traces his roots. He plans to finish the last bit of the walk through South Carolina with his mother.
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