Mike ter Maat
Libertarian | Florida
Candidate Profile
Moderate
BIOGRAPHY
Name
Mike ter Maat
Party
Libertarian
Election Year
2022
Election
Special General
Race
U.S. Rep., Dist. 20
Incumbent
No
Links
EDUCATION
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, BS Aero Eng, 1982
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, MBA, 1983
George Washington University, Washington DC, MS & PhD Economics, 1992
WORK & MILITARY
Hallandale Beach Police Department, Police Officer, 2010-21
Foreword Financial, Founder, Programming Director, 2002-2010
American Bankers Association, Economist & Info Products Director, 1992-2002
White House Office of Management & Budget, Economist, 1990-1992
AFFILIATIONS
Broward Public Schools, Part-time substitute teacher 2008-10, Nova University
Adjunct economics professor 2008-10, Barry University, Adjunct economics professor 2008-10
POLITICAL OFFICES HELD
(Candidate did not provide)
POLITICAL OFFICES SOUGHT
(Candidate did not provide)
SELECTED CONTRIBUTIONS
CONSERVATIVE
GIVEN BY CANDIDATE (1)
Mitt Romney (2013)
RECEIVED BY CANDIDATE (0)
OTHER INFORMATION
Mike ter Maat completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2021.
This is a link to a 70-minute video of a Candidate Forum on Zoom, featuring all five Congressional Candidates for Florida's District 20, sponsored by the League of Women Voters in Florida.
QUESTIONNAIRE
RIGHT TO LIFE
Human life begins at conception and deserves legal protection at every stage until natural death.
Neutral
Abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, should not receive taxpayer funds or grants from federal, state, or local governments.
Strongly Agree
I support the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which requires health care providers to provide life-saving treatment for infants who survive an attempted abortion.
Strongly Agree
Under what circumstances should abortion be allowed?
Each state should be allowed to decide for itself, regarding pre-viability. Post-viability should be illegal. Roe v Wade unconstitutionally usurped states' rights.
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY
Governments should not discriminate against individuals, organizations or small businesses because of their belief that marriage is only a union of one man and one woman.
Strongly Agree
Religious liberty is at risk in the United States and deserves the highest level of protection in the law.
Strongly Agree
I promise to protect the freedom of Christians to share the Gospel and to practice Biblical principles.
Yes
What does "separation of church and state" mean to you?
The government should not be allowed even to know whether your organization is religious.
NATIONAL SECURITY
The best way to maintain peace is through a strong military.
Disagree
What should the United States do to help eradicate the threat of Islamic terrorism?
Leave it and the rest of the world alone.
HEALTHCARE
It is the government’s responsibility to ensure everyone has health insurance.
Strongly Disagree
I support the elimination of private healthcare insurance.
Strongly Disagree
How would you promote healthcare coverage that is adequate, affordable and accessible for all?
Our system got out of control through the use of insurance. We must stop subsidizing the use of insurance through the corporate tax code. And we need a one-price rule, whereby all services are offered at the same price whether a customer is insured or not. This combination would finally put downward pressure on prices.
ECONOMY
It is the government’s responsibility to ensure everyone has a livable income.
Strongly Disagree
Free enterprise and the right to private property are essential elements of a productive economic system.
Strongly Agree
How would you guarantee Social Security benefits for future generations?
Through an ability to opt-out of the program. Participation in retirement accounts eventually will phase-out Social Security as a government program.
What government spending would you reduce in order to balance the budget?
Military and everything else.
Under what circumstances should taxpayers help pay off existing student loans?
Never.
IMMIGRATION
I am in favor of construction of a wall and other necessary infrastructure on our border that gives complete control over entering and exiting the United States.
Neutral
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) should be abolished.
Disagree
State and federal funds should be denied to any public or private entity, including but not limited to sanctuary cities, that are not in compliance with immigration laws.
Strongly Disagree
Employers should be required to use E-verify to confirm the eligibility of their employees to work in the United States.
Strongly Disagree
Who should be allowed to immigrate to the U.S. and under what circumstances?
Anyone. Any. We must end discrimination against immigrants who are motivated by economic opportunity. It is hypocrisy for the world’s most economically successful society – which is successful because of the freedom of opportunity we allow most citizens – to consider wanting to participate in such a system as some sort of black mark on an immigration application. Nor should we limit immigration to numbers as small as are currently allowed by the resources we dedicate to border processing. There is no valid argument favoring one rate of immigration over another, nor one level of population over another. Indeed, as the world’s leading democracy, we should accept population growth as our responsibility to become an expanding beacon to the world, not as a burden. Immigrants not only make a net positive contribution to our fiscal solvency, they use fewer public resources than native-born Americans. And immigrants commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans, on average.
CRIMINAL JUSTICE & PUBLIC SAFETY
Mandatory minimum sentencing should be required and enforced for violent crimes.
Neutral
2ND AMENDMENT
What restrictions on gun ownership are needed to protect public safety?
Unsupervised minors should not be allowed weapons.
OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES
I support BDS (boycott, divestment, and sanction) against Israel if they refuse to allow the creation of a Palestinian state.
Strongly Disagree
I support the legalization of recreational marijuana.
Strongly Agree
The Electoral College should be abolished.
Disagree
In priority order, what three areas of legislation do you propose to author or sponsor if elected?
Criminal justice reform - mandatory sentence reductions, decriminalization of drug possession. Police reform - elimination of qualified immunity, pro-market changes, transparency. Reform of the war on poverty - replace the model of providing resources, condemnation of the local monopolization of the use of public education funds.
ABOUT YOU
When you consider your views on a wide range of issues from economic and social matters to foreign policy and immigration, which of the following best describes you overall?
No Answer
Please provide publicly available information validating your answer to the previous question.
https://miketermaat2022.com/issues
Have you ever been convicted of a felony or been penalized for sexual misconduct? If so, please explain.
No.
Is there anything else you would like voters to know about you?
The most fundamental problems facing District 20 are issues on which I have worked for many years. • As an eleven-year police officer until a few weeks ago, I believe we must change what has become the world’s most oppressive criminal justice system, including reforms to the ways in which we manage police. We need to end our practice of sending our fellow residents to the world’s longest prison sentences. And we need to end the War of Drugs so that we can start treating addiction like the health problem that it is and stop creating street crime that undermines our communities. • As a former White House economist and economics professor who has spent years studying economic development academically, traveling abroad to 35 mostly underdeveloped nations, and driving a patrol car the past eleven years, the inescapable overarching conclusion is that persistent inter-generational poverty is a political phenomenon, resulting from bad public policy, not our market system.
VALUES
Judeo-Christian values established a framework of morality that is necessary for our system of limited government.
Disagree
I support adding sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression as protected classes in non-discrimination laws.
Strongly Disagree
Briefly describe your spiritual beliefs and values.
See the answer to question #16.
EQUALITY
Reparations should be given to people on the basis of race.
Strongly Disagree
Is racism a threat to domestic security in the United States? Why or why not?
Persistent inter-generational poverty could become a threat to domestic security. Because centuries of racial discrimination have left race and poverty so interrelated, the challenges of poverty, including our nation’s uniquely oppressive criminal justice system, weigh most heavily on Black America. The core solutions to poverty, crime and justice will not come from further improvement in race relations, as racism is the one area in which we have made some progress, albeit partial, over the last half century. Rather, economics has taught us that creating opportunity for people who are currently trapped in poverty to rise, we must remove the barriers that keep people from participating fully in the system, not changing the fundamentals of the system itself.
