Rep. John Fillmore has a self-denigrating streak.

In roughly 20 minutes, he refers to himself as “the village idiot” and wonders why people would pay for his own art.

He was in the Army for two years, six months and five days – “which tells you how much I loved the military when I got it right down to the day,” he said – yet says the main thing he took away was his habit of making the bed every day.

But the not-quite freshman Republican from Legislative District 16 – he served in the House in 2011 and 2012 – is back at the Capitol because he truly believes he can make a difference.

I read your bio in the “Green Book” and I’d like to start with the obvious first question: Fire art is listed among your hobbies. What is that?

I buy metal flowers and make metal figures, and I shoot fire and water out of them. I custom-make burners for fire pits and things like that for people to put in their backyards.

How does one get into such a thing?

Boredom. No, my stores have historically sold evaporative coolers, fireplaces and wood stoves. We’re one of the largest in the Southwest United States. But I’m 68 years old. I’m getting tired of lifting evaporative coolers and wood stoves, so I was kind of looking [for something else]. I like playing. Outside of the Legislature, I have the perfect job outside of working in a – for a guy, and I don’t mean this like it sounds – in a topless bar. I play with nuts, bolts, screws and fire, and I BS all day. It’s been good to me.

How do you think your art stacks up to Speaker Bowers’, shall we say, more classic art forms?

Pathetically absurd. Listen, I make no qualms about my work. It is low-grade. I mean, people have bought stuff from me, and I’m thinking, “I wouldn’t buy that.”

All right, let’s get serious. You’ve been here before. What brought you back to the Capitol?

I don’t have a formal education, and I’ve been a self-starter all my life. I own a chain of stores. I’ve had a sheet-metal shop and a wrecking yard. I’ve been very successful in my private life. (He knocks on his desk.) Thank God. And I haven’t had many failures. I got involved because of the education community in Arizona. We are short-changing the kids. I’ve always heard that school districts and the schools scream, “We need more money! We need more money!” As an outsider, I take one look at it and say, “No, you don’t need more money. You have more than enough money. You just spend it wrong.” … I’m a big supporter of public schools. I am also a big supporter of charter schools. Charter schools are doing better than public schools right now.

I came back because I believe that we can make a difference. … The problem is we haven’t allowed teachers to teach. We’ve been too restrictive. We don’t teach our kids analytical reasoning, the ability for them to think for themselves. I was one of only five people who voted against that “no promo homo” bill. I did not do that because of the LGBT reference or anything of that nature. We’re teaching sex education starting in kindergarten. They say we do it age-specific, but it doesn’t matter. Just let kids be kids. Let them have their childhood, and let them do some thinking for themselves.

How do you think this session compares to your last in terms of education and the tone of this session?

It’s the same. We have a can, and we’re kicking it down the road. … It’s totally frustrating to me.

I have to tell you that I have a very good relationship with a lot of the Ds. Some of the bills that they have proposed, quite frankly, I scratch my head at. … But is there animosity? There’s always going to be give and take with the parties. I believe that the Democrats love America just as I do.

Let’s take this further back. You’re from Idaho. Tell me about your childhood.

I was raised on a farm until I was 10 years old when my father passed away. Then, I was taken back east to Boston. I got the best education that you can get in this world. I learned about life and the birds and the bees and all that on the farm. I understood it. And then, I was taken to the city, and I learned about people and how they react on the block. … I’ve been working since I was 10 years old after my dad died. My mother had seven kids. … People ask me why I am the way I am on certain things. I don’t like unions, never have. Why? I was a union member when I was 17 years old. I worked in a rubber factory with a bunch of Portuguese who couldn’t speak English, and we went on strike – October, November, December, Christmas and Thanksgiving and all that. And in January, the union came and offered a 3-cent per hour raise. And they were saying accept it. And I’m jumping up and down – no, now we had them where it counts. And the union guy took me out back and told me to shut up. That’s when I realized that organizations sometimes aren’t really what they propose to be.

I’ve worked in a lot of fields. At the end of the day, if I had made $5 or $10,000, I knew to myself that’s what I was worth that day. And that meant a lot to me.

How did losing your father at 10 shape your life?

There are two things in life that my mother taught me: There are things you change and things that you can’t. If you can change them, change them. Don’t whine. Work to change them. Make them better, and make your life better. Make it better for those around you. And if you can’t change it, there’s nothing you can do about it. Learn to live with it. Do the best that you can, don’t mope and do the best that you can to move forward.