Associate Press Candidate Survey

Mark Thornton

Libertarian Party Candidate

United States Senate

404 Blake Street

Auburn, AL 36830

334-826-1166

1. Key Issue: What do you think is the most important issue that the next Congress should tackle? Why?

Social Security is going to bankrupt America. More young Americans believe in UFOs than in future of Social Security. Even rosy government estimates show that it will run out of money for someone currently fifty years old. Why should we pay more than 15% of our wages for a system that drains the economy and destroys the future? Libertarians want to replace it will a private pension system and sell federal government assets to maintain those who are dependent on Social Security.

2. Tax Cuts: Republican presidential nominee Bob Dole has made a $548 billion, 15 percent tax cut in income tax rates the centerpiece of his campaign. President Clinton has countered with a $110 billion tax cut targeted at improving education. Do you support cutting taxes at a time when the annual federal budget deficit still exceeds $100 billion? If so, which plan?

I support all cuts (taxes and spending) all the time. Dole and Clinton offer phony tax cuts. If you are willing to give up your favorite government program, we can eliminate the Income Tax (replace it with nothing) and you will never have to pay that tax again.

3. Budget/Deficit: Do you support a constitutional amendment to require a balanced budget? What programs, if any, would you exempt from spending cuts needed to balance the budget?

The Libertarian Party introduced the idea of a Constitutional Amendment to Balance the Budget in 1979. I would not exempt any program from budget cuts and would consider elimination of all programs except the basic Constitutional functions of government and the National Guard.

4. Welfare: Do you favor changing the new welfare legislation, as President Clinton has suggested, to lessen the impact on poor children [no] and to eliminate the ban on welfare payments to legal immigrants? [no] Should Congress restore the federal guarantee of aid to all eligible poor people, which was repealed by the new welfare law? [no]

No. No. No.

The federal government should have no welfare, aid, subsidy, or insurance programs.

5. Political

Reform: Do you support a constitutional amendment to limit the number of terms that individuals can serve in the House and Senate?

I support term limits for politicians, judges, and bureaucrats. I also support an end to government pensions and taxpayer subsidized "federal matching funds." Campaign finance laws, ballot "access" laws, and free postage entrench incumbents and should be done away with. I also support increasing the size of the House of Representative in line with the original ratio of Representatives to Citizens.

6. Abortion: What is your personal view of abortion? What role should the federal government play in funding or regulation abortion?

Pro Choice. My personal view is that abortion should not be used as a form of birth control. The federal government should play no role in regulating or funding abortion. Crime is a local matter and should be a matter of law, not politics. I personally oppose Roe v. Wade as judicial activism.

7. Drugs/Tobacco: Do you support federal regulation of tobacco to discourage teen smoking? Would you support the use of U.S. armed forces in drug interdiction efforts?

I do not support the federal regulation of tobacco and I believe that teen smoking is being used as a "smoke screen" for establishing a national prohibition on tobacco. I also do not support the use of U.S. armed forces in drug interdiction because it is a violation of Constitutional law and because the War on Drugs can never work and must be ended.

8. Gun Control: Do you support repealing the Brady bill or enacting additional controls proposed by President Clinton?

I support the repeal of the Brady bill and oppose all federal regulation of guns. In my Firearms and Freedom, I fully support the Constitutional view of the 2nd Amendment of the Bill of Rights. A free copy can be obtained by calling 1-800-207-1770.