Friedman, Milton
1912–2006

Milton Friedman's framework, developed across 'Capitalism and Freedom' (1962), 'Free to Choose' (1980), the 1976 Nobel Prize work on monetary economics, and four decades of Newsweek and Wall Street Journal columns, was free-market absolutism: school vouchers (he invented the modern framework in 1955), drug legalization, free trade, deregulation, negative income tax, and skepticism of government-led economic planning even when motivated by good intentions. Paxton wins substantive Friedman points on school vouchers (the centerpiece Friedman policy proposal), deregulation, anti-ESG litigation, and the broader anti-regulatory framework; he loses substantially on Trump tariffs (Friedman was the foremost free-trade advocate of his generation), on the marijuana cases and THC ban (Friedman explicitly favored drug legalization), and on the use of state power for cultural-conservative ends Friedman treated as paternalist. Talarico wins Friedman points on marijuana legalization, tariff repeal, free trade restoration, and immigration reform with citizenship pathways; he loses on minimum-wage increases (Friedman was the foremost academic opponent), corporate tax increases, expanded antitrust enforcement, and Medicare expansion. The tie reflects Friedman's classical-liberal framework cutting across both candidates: each gets credit for half the Friedman agenda and loses on the other half. Friedman would be more disturbed by the Trump tariffs and personal-conduct issues affecting Paxton than by Talarico's tax positions, but probably not enough to break the tie.