Sowell, Thomas
1930–

Thomas Sowell's framework distinguishes between the 'constrained vision' (humans as limited, institutions as accumulated wisdom, markets as information-aggregation) and the 'unconstrained vision' (humans as perfectible, institutions as obstacles, planning as feasible) — and Sowell's whole career has been a sustained defense of the constrained vision against progressive social engineering. Cornyn fits Sowell's constrained-vision framework substantially better than Paxton does: his institutional respect, his free-trade record, his school-choice support, and crucially his clean process record (no forum-shopping investigations, no State Bar misconduct, no impeachment) satisfy the institutional-integrity commitment Sowell's framework treats as foundational. Sowell would credit Cornyn's anti-Trump-tariff posture as the right side of Sowell's economic-history writings on protectionism. Talarico's framework — minimum wage increases, Medicare expansion, antitrust expansion, anti-billionaire taxation framing — represents the precise pattern Sowell's 'unconstrained vision' critique targets. Talarico wins partial credit on free-trade restoration, marijuana legalization, and the anti-corruption framework Sowell's institutional-integrity commitments would credit.