Gandhi, Mahatma
1869–1948

Gandhi's framework centered nonviolence (ahimsa), anti-imperialism, religious pluralism (he was assassinated by a Hindu nationalist for being too pluralistic), civil disobedience as moral practice, voluntary simplicity, and defense of the poor against industrial capitalism. Paxton's entire political mode — religious-majoritarian framing, combative rhetoric, prosecution of religious minorities, personal-attack campaign style — lands on the opposite side of nearly every Gandhi value. Cornyn earns far more Gandhian credit on civility, religious pluralism (Respect for Marriage Act with religious-liberty carve-outs is the Utah-Compromise-style pluralism Gandhi would recognize), and absence-of-demagogue-mode under sustained primary attack. Both lose on Gandhi's economic skepticism of industrial scale, but the temperamental gap is wide. Cornyn matches Gandhi's institutional-restraint framework about as well as a Senate Republican can.