Valdez: My favorite Republican lies

Truth is more of an affair of convenience than a long-term relationship to most politicians. But some Republican canards have been around so long they are like old slippers -- familiar and full of holes. The GOP myth that lower taxes boost the economy, for example, persists even after decades of tax cutting left Arizona's economy so-so and Arizona's basic needs unmet.

Here are some of my favorite GOP fairy tales.

GOP hates taxes

Actually they love taxes – as long as somebody else raises ‘em. Arizona voters approved raising tobacco taxes to benefit early childhood education – something GOP lawmakers wouldn’t do. Now GOP lawmakers want to raid the voter-approved First Things First program to provide a (very) little life support for Arizona’s starving K-12 schools, which GOP lawmakers won’t raise taxes to help. What’s more, GOP lawmakers raid county tax bases to fill holes in the state budget, which means counties have to raise local taxes to provide basic services. It’s a shell game from faux-fiscal conservatives.

GOP likes efficient government

When it comes to gumming up how government works, you can’t beat the boys in Arizona’s House delegation. Reps. Trent Franks, Paul Gosar, David Schweikert and Matt Salmon are members of the "tea party"-friendly House Freedom Caucus, which even undermines progress on its own goals. In his Sept. 16 letter of resignation from the group, California GOP Rep. Tom McClintock said: “A common theme through each of these incidents is a willingness – indeed, an eagerness – to strip the House Republican majority of its ability to set the House agenda by combining with House Democrats on procedural motions.  As a result, it has thwarted vital conservative policy objectives and unwittingly become Nancy Pelosi’s tactical ally.” Ouch!

Privatization saves money

The GOP never lets a troublesome thing like facts get in the way of ideology. Take Arizona’s private prisons. (Please!) The state used to require a cost comparison between private and state-run prisons. What did the GOP majority in the Legislature do after a 2010 study suggested state-run prisons were cheaper? They repealed the law that required the Department of Corrections to release studies comparing costs. Of course. They did not, however, stop driving Arizona at breakneck speed toward making incarceration a for-profit industry.

Global warming? No worries

Those who insist global warming either isn’t happening or it isn’t caused by human activity rely on a few random scientists who may also believe the earth is flat and only a few thousand years old. Mainstream scientific opinion, as expressed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, puts the probability that global warming is human caused at 95 percent. Oh, piffle, says the GOP. Donald Trump has said he’s “not a believer.” Ben Carson said there's "always going to be either cooling or warming going on." Jeb Bush said we should “not be alarmists about it.”