Mark Boler's Issue Positions (Political Courage Test)
Key
Official Position: Candidate addressed this issue directly by taking the Political Courage Test.
Inferred Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, but Vote Smart inferred this issue based on the candidate's public record, including statements, voting record, and special interest group endorsements.
Unknown Position: Candidate refused to address this issue, or we could not infer an answer for this candidate despite exhaustive research of their public record.
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Other or Expanded Principles & Legislative Priorities are entered exactly as candidates submit them. Vote Smart does not edit for misspelled words, punctuation or grammar.
Mark Boler has failed to provide voters with positions on key issues covered by the 2020 Political Courage Test, despite repeated requests from Vote Smart and voters like you.
Issue Positions
For Presidential and Congressional candidates who refuse to provide voters with their positions, Vote Smart has researched their public records to determine their likely responses. These issue positions are from 2020.
- Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? "Pro-Choice" (votesmart.org)
- In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? "No" (votesmart.org)
- "Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme! Social security was once promised to be the end of poverty to seniors. Now it is broken. Persons in the system are seeing their benefits dwindle due to higher taxes and inflation. I think people should be able to invest their own money how they see fit. The government steals it and promises to pay it back later." (votesmart.org)
- Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? "No" (votesmart.org)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- "I believe that we can do a better job to reduce waste in all areas of government, including defense spending. We currently spend nearly as much as every other country in the world on defense." (votesmart.org)
- Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? "No" (votesmart.org)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- "I support abolishing the federal Department of Education. It's a giant bureaucracy that wastes our money." (votesmart.org)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? "No" (votesmart.org)
- "I support the 2nd Amendment. Period." (votesmart.org)
- Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act? "Yes" (votesmart.org)
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
- Despite exhaustive research, Vote Smart was unable to find information about this candidate's position.
This candidate has responded to a Political Courage Test in a previous election. As a continued effort to provide the American public with factual information on candidates running for public office, these archived responses are made available here.
| Pro-life | Do you generally support pro-choice or pro-life legislation? | ||
| I believe that to abort a child that is viable is wrong. But I also believe that at some point early on, or in cases of rape, incest, or if the life of the mother or child is in jeopardy that abortions are acceptable. I am not a doctor so I won't be the one that determines at what point this is. | |||
| Yes | In order to balance the budget, do you support reducing defense spending? | ||
| No | In order to balance the budget, do you support an income tax increase on any tax bracket? | ||
| I believe that we can do a better job to reduce waste in all areas of government, including defense spending. We currently spend nearly as much as every other country in the world on defense. I also would not ever support raising taxes in any way whatsoever. There is far too much fat we can shed in order to reduce the deficit. In addition to this, we should eliminate whole federal departments and return their functions to the states or to the people where they rightfully belong. This would allow us to further reduce taxes. | |||
| No | Do you support the regulation of indirect campaign contributions from corporations and unions? | ||
| I look at contributions to campaigns as a form of protected freedom of speech. | |||
| No | Do you support capital punishment for certain crimes? | ||
| No. Not any more. The state makes far too many mistakes, and in many cases, we've seen DNA evidence that is showing that people have been wrongly convicted in the past. Death is too final. We've also seen many cases where people have been put to death already and it's been shown that they were likely innocent of what they were charged with. | |||
| No | Do you support federal spending as a means of promoting economic growth? | ||
| Yes | Do you support lowering taxes as a way of promoting growth in the economy? | ||
| No | Do you support providing tax incentives to businesses for the purpose of job creation? | ||
| In general I would not support tax incentives because it allows government to pick winners and losers in the market. I believe that a true free market economy is what is needed, with no preference paid to anyone over someone else is the best way to improve the economy. However, I would support tax incentives in the form of across the board reductions or eliminations of taxes. | |||
| No | Do you support requiring states to implement education reforms in order to be eligible for competitive federal grants? | ||
| I support abolishing the federal Department of Education. It's a giant bureaucracy that wastes our money. The federal government spends billions of dollars that would be better left in the hands of the states or the people. The states and local governments know best what is right for their students, not some clerk in Washington. It was established to improve education and it's only made it worse. Furthermore, the Constitution does not authorize the Department of Education. It is yet another function that has been taken from the people and the states and placed in central control. | |||
| Yes | Do you support building the Keystone XL pipeline? | ||
| Yes | Do you support reducing restrictions on offshore energy production? | ||
| I support reducing any restrictions on energy except ones that protect the environment. I support abolishing or curtailing the EPA because I think the states would be best to regulate this. | |||
| No | Do you believe that human activity is contributing to climate change? | ||
| No | Do you support the federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions? | ||
| I believe in some form of regulation of the environment. I believe it's best to leave it up to the states. When the EPA was first formed, it created some very basic and good regulations. Up to 1970 the regulations it made were good. We should codify those into law and then leave it at that. After 1970 almost all of the regulations it has created do nothing to help the environment and everything to thwart real productivity. | |||
| No | Do you support restrictions on the purchase and possession of guns? | ||
| I support the 2nd Amendment. Period. | |||
| Yes | Do you support repealing the 2010 Affordable Care Act? | ||
| Our health care system is broken and the Affordable Care Act wasn't the answer. In a true free-market system, free of government intervention and free of Crony-Capitalism, competition keeps profit margins low. At the same time, it keeps quality very high. Because if it didn't do either one of these things, customers would find a competitor that would do it better and cheaper. I believe that this fundamental concept works for every sector of the economy, and even for health care. Our health care system has had so much regulation, that neither of these things can occur. | |||
| Yes | Do you support requiring illegal immigrants to return to their country of origin before they are eligible for citizenship? | ||
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| My long term solution would be to stop giving so many freebies away. I would phase out welfare, free health care, and replace them with non-profit based systems. I would phase out the current system of funding for education and let the states decide how to fund education. If we did that, we wouldn't have a need to so severely restrict immigration with regards to the people we want to have here. We could immediately increase our numbers of persons we allow in with no economic harm to society. | |||
| Yes | Do you support same-sex marriage? | ||
| The government has no business regulating marriage or any other religious practice. Some people do not like that two or more persons of the same sex might be allowed to have the same tax advantages, survivor-ship rights, or the right to buy insurance as two or more persons of different sex. Why should the sex of those persons matter with regard to taxes or insurance? The government also no business telling us what we can name our bonds. If we want to call it partnership or marriage it is our right. | |||
| No | Do you support targeting suspected terrorists outside of official theaters of conflict? | ||
| No | Should the U.S use military force in order to prevent governments hostile to the United States from possessing a nuclear weapon? | ||
| We are the strongest nation on the planet by far and I want to keep it that way. However, I believe that when we go to war, we must do so only under a formal declaration of war by Congress. Article One, Section Eight of the Constitution says Congress shall have power to declare War. We should never go to war without this declaration. When we declare war, we need to go in, fight to win, and come home. Thomas Jefferson said that America should have peace, commerce and honest friendship with all other nations, yet entangling alliances with none. | |||
| Yes | Do you support allowing individuals to divert a portion of their Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts? | ||
| Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme! Social security was once promised to be the end of poverty to seniors. Now it is broken. Persons in the system are seeing their benefits dwindle due to higher taxes and inflation. I think people should be able to invest their own money how they see fit. The government steals it and promises to pay it back later. | |||
SpendingIndicate what federal spending levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one number per category; you can use a number more than once.TaxesIndicate what federal tax levels (#1-6) you support for the following general categories. Select one number per category; you can use a number more than once.
| Eliminate | a) Agriculture | ||
| Eliminate | b) Arts | ||
| Slightly Decrease | c) Defense | ||
| Eliminate | d) Education | ||
| Eliminate | e) Environment | ||
| Slightly Decrease | f) Homeland Security | ||
| Eliminate | g) International aid | ||
| Eliminate | h) Medical Research | ||
| Eliminate | i) Scientific Research | ||
| Eliminate | j) Space exploration | ||
| Eliminate | k) United Nations | ||
| Eliminate | l) Welfare | ||
| Eliminate | a) Capital gains taxes | ||
| Eliminate | b) Corporate taxes | ||
| Eliminate | c) Excise taxes (alcohol) | ||
| Eliminate | d) Excise taxes (cigarettes) | ||
| Eliminate | e) Excise taxes (transportation fuel) | ||
| Eliminate | f) Income taxes (low-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | g) Income taxes (middle-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | h) Income taxes (high-income families) | ||
| Eliminate | i) Inheritance taxes | ||
| Eliminate | j) Payroll taxes | ||
| In general, if it's not authorized in the US Constitution, it should be done by the federal government and should instead be left to the states. | |||
| The federal government should derive it's funding directly from the states. Failing that, by a very very small flat or consumption based tax. Only. | |||
| My priorities would be to trim the federal government back down to what is authorized in the Constitution. Stop spying on everyone unless a judge has issued a warrant, and eliminate or drastically reduce taxes. Return all control back to the states and make the federal government live on what it takes in. |
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