Mike ter Maat

Michael ter Maat (born 1961) is an American businessman, political candidate, former economist, and retired police officer. A member of the Libertarian Party, he is presidential nominee Chase Oliver's running mate in the 2024 United States presidential election.

Career
Ter Maat received his Bachelor of Science in aeronautical engineering (1982) and Master of Business Administration in management (1983) from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and his Master of Science (1989) and Doctor of Philosophy (1992), both in economics, from George Washington University.

He was a financial economist for the White House Office of Management and Budget from 1989 to 1992. He served as a Senior Economist and Group Director, Information Products for the American Bankers Association from 1992 to 2002. He founded Foreword Financial and served as its program development director from 2002 to 2008. From 2008 to 2010, ter Maat served as an adjunct professor at Nova Southeastern University and Barry University. He served as a police officer for the City of Hallandale Beach, Florida from 2010 to 2021, after which he retired and moved to Kinsale, Virginia.

2022 U.S. House of Representatives campaign
Previously a Republican, ter Maat first ran for office as a Libertarian during Florida's 20th congressional district's special election in 2022, where he earned 0.7% of the vote.

Regarding his run for Congress, ter Maat commented, "one of the biggest problems we have as a nation is our deepening political divide and that as a Libertarian, I am particularly well-positioned to contributing to bridging this chasm."

2024 presidential campaign
Ter Maat began his campaign seeking the 2024 Libertarian Party presidential nomination in June 2022. At the 2024 Libertarian National Convention, he finished third for president among ten nominated candidates and several write-ins. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was eliminated in the first round and Donald J. Trump was disqualified for not having submitted the appropriate paperwork.

2024 vice presidential candidacy
After being eliminated for president, ter Maat endorsed Chase Oliver for president and accepted Oliver's offer to run as his vice presidential running mate after voicing dissatisfaction with the strategy employed by the Mises Caucus, which endorsed Michael Rectenwald for president. ter Maat received 51.3% in the second round of voting, defeating runner-up Clint Russell who received 47% of the vote.

Austrian economist
After working for the American Bankers Association and the White House, ter Maat published The economics of e-cash in IEEE Spectrum, a journal published by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers in February 1997 and cited by publications including the Association for Computing Machinery and patents including for an internet payment system using smart card. He is an Austrian economist who advocates for a shift in monetary policy to a more laissez-faire model during times of recession.

In a one-on-one debate, transcribed by The Korea IT Times, with international relations scholar and independent presidential candidate Emanuel Pastreich, ter Maat asserted that "The problem is that a collapse of the federal government will lead to a collapse of financial markets all over the world, especially if the bond market dips and the US dollar collapses".

Books
Ter Maat is the editor and co-author of:
 * ter Maat, M., Borders, M., Consorte, D., Mavrakakis, I., Sharpe, L., Sammeroff, A., Paige, R., Jiminez, A.. A Gold New Deal: The Government We Will Tolerate. Amazon, Independently published, December 30, 2023.

Platform
Ter Maat calls his election platform "The Gold New Deal." He wants to decentralize government, limited by the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. His platform consists of ten planks.


 * 1) Empower Decentralization of Authority
 * 2) Preserve Individual Autonomy
 * 3) Eliminate the IRS
 * 4) Limit Federal Expenditure
 * 5) End Mandatory Investment
 * 6) End the Federal Reserve System
 * 7) Allow Phase-Out of Public Education
 * 8) Reform Police Accountability
 * 9) End Discretionary Military Interventionism
 * 10) Impose Term Limits