http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/04/opinion/campaign-stops/will-mike-pence-tell-the-truth.html 2016-10-04 14:55:39 Will Mike Pence Tell the Truth? No politician is perfectly honest. But Pence and his party have earned an extra degree of skepticism. === This article is part of the Opinion Today newsletter. You can If you told me that I could change one thing about American politics, I would choose for the country to have a well-functioning conservative party. I realize that some liberals see that notion as a contradiction. I don’t. There are serious, substantive arguments – even if you don’t agree with them – in favor of reducing the role of government in many areas of life and expanding the role of the market. There are similarly serious arguments in favor of immigration restrictions, abortion restrictions, a more hawkish Syria policy, more competition in education and any number of other conservative positions. Unfortunately, today’s Republican party doesn’t revolve around these substantive positions. Its leaders often care more about making Democrats Along the way, they cause government shutdowns, paralyze Washington – and regularly deny basic facts. Donald Trump has made blatant the party’s current problem with lying. But Trump is more of a reflection of the problem than the cause of it. Remarkably, Keep an eye out for the truth gap at tonight’s vice-presidential debate. Mike Pence, the Republican governor of Indiana, is Instead, he is prone to falsehoods. He’s No politician is perfectly honest – including