Daniel Tilson: Reflections on my home visit from Rick Scott's FDLE

Political columnists write stories. We’re not supposed to be stories.

But as many of you already know, I became a big part of what turned into a big story during the past week or so.

It started when I found out Gov. Rick Scott was getting creative about the propaganda strategy used to market his tax policies to Florida’s middle class. It’s one thing to consistently dissemble about the ugly truth that Florida now has the USA’s second most unfair tax system. It’s something else to build a “Tax Cut Calculator” gizmo, put it on public display in the Florida State Capitol, and try deceiving the public into thinking an average annual $43 cut in phone and cable TV taxes is “middle-class tax relief.”

Especially when Scott and a loyal Republican legislative majority keep green-lighting billions in corporate tax breaks, handouts and outright evasion, year after year.

Unfortunately, too many hard-working Floridians with too little time to get well-informed about public policy are left unable to connect those dots. Worse, PR stunts like the governor’s cuckoo calculator, they work. People see it on the news, reinforced by ongoing, everyday Scott & Co. propaganda, and many are bamboozled into believing it.

That’s where guys like me come in. I think of myself as a dot connector. I believe there’s a vast population of good people in Florida, and nationwide, who haven’t fallen into the trap of being knee-jerk supporters of any politician who attacks Obama and Obamacare, Democrats and liberals, equal rights/protections/opportunities for all, and so on. Yet most aren’t informed or motivated enough to actively oppose the likes of Rick Scott.

So I went about my job of trying to inform and motivate people. And because the last thing I want is for anyone to feel like being politically informed and civically motivated is some dreaded homework assignment to be avoided, I try to make my writing engaging, even (dare I say) entertaining when possible.

It was in that spirit that I wrote the satirical column “Rick Scott’s Magical Mystery Tax Cut Calculator.” But when I added the lyrics “Coming to take you away, take you away” as a bonus Beatles reference when posting the article on Google Plus…well, that’s when “it” hit the fan.

You can read the details here, but long story short, one of Rick Scott’s Florida Department of Law Enforcement inspectors ended up visiting my home to make sure I wasn’t the “threat” some supposedly “anonymous” tipster claimed I was.

Wrong-minded and ridiculous on so many levels. But here’s the thing…

The decision to take that action and the action itself, to whatever extent meant to be intimidation, or not, brought the Law of Unintended Consequences into play, big time.

From President Nixon’s infamous “enemies list” to so many other illegitimate tactics employed by so many other paranoid, corrupted governments over the years, you really cannot fool all the people all the time. And what you think may be protecting you, may be your undoing.

In this case, the ill-advised FDLE power play quickly turned into a political lightning rod, electrifying family, friends, neighbors, leading journalists, and thousands of social media pals and fans. I can’t thank each and every one of you enough for your support. More important, you’re all helping shine a light on a dark and dirty government desperately in need of regime change.

As for me, thanks to Rick Scott’s FDLE, I have plenty of new readers, more opportunities to connect the dots, to inform, engage and activate.

And that’s just what I’m going to do…um, in addition to installing a new state-of-the-art video surveillance security system at the house!

Daniel Tilson has a Boca Raton-based communications firm called Full Cup Media, specializing in online video and written content for non-profits, political candidates and organizations, and small businesses. Column courtesy of Context Florida.