Even though I am anti-politics, I still find it entertaining.  I understand that the state – particularly the U.S. government – is brutal.  When you look at all of the death and destruction, both directly and indirectly, it probably isn’t something that should be entertaining.

The entertainment for me is watching these duds get up on stage and squirm through a bunch of questions.  They are so afraid to say something wrong.  In this sense, it is the main reason so many people like Donald Trump.  He mostly just speaks what is on his mind, or at least appears to.

In terms of the race for the presidency, I think a lot of it is show.  It is nice that the establishment is so bugged by Trump.  I actually like Trump in some respects, but that will change quickly if he actually gets elected president.  I can envision him being quite dictatorial.

I always like people better when they are in the so-called private sector, as opposed to politics.  With Arnold Schwarzenegger, I like some of his movies and I don’t care for others.  But I can watch the ones I like.  When he became governor in California, he really disgusted me.  Now that he is out of politics again, maybe I can once again like him one day.

But back to the topic of the presidency, I think the president is a figurehead to a large degree.  These candidates are vetted.  Some are more well liked than others by the establishment, but most of them are acceptable.  Even Ronald Reagan became acceptable to the establishment.  They didn’t like him, but they could put up with him.

Kennedy obviously fell out of favor with the establishment.  It was probably because he opposed a further escalation in Vietnam.  Maybe it was because he was in the way of Johnson and all of his cronies.

I think Rand Paul would have been similar to Ronald Reagan.  There would have been a fight to keep him out of the White House, but ultimately he would have been acceptable to the establishment.  Anyway, that is not a factor now because Paul will be out of the race soon.  His campaign could not have been worse.

I am glad that Rand Paul failed with his strategy of trying to play both sides.  His father was far more successful, in many aspects.  If Rand Paul were sent to the White House, I would be afraid that anything bad happening would be blamed on libertarianism, even though his policies would probably only be slightly less socialist than the others.

Here is a good question for a libertarian though.  Assuming an establishment candidate wins the presidency, who would be the best-case scenario in terms of liberty?

Of course, it is impossible to know for sure.  We really don’t know how someone will behave once in office.  Trump is probably the biggest unknown at this point.  Would he scale back the U.S. empire overseas, or would he feel the need to keep it going to show his strength?

I think any other Republican would be a disaster.  They are all pro war, although some are worse than others.

The Republicans will likely keep majorities in the House and Senate.  From this standpoint, we are probably better off with a Democrat in the presidency.  Gridlock tends to be better than having one party control all of the branches.

I don’t want Hillary Clinton though.  I’m not saying it is the end of America if she wins, but I can’t think of a more corrupt and power-hungry person.  She is a war hawk and she may get away with more war being a woman.  If Republicans opposed her war making, it would be for the wrong reasons.  They would probably say she is not being forceful enough.

Bernie Sanders, while not the peace candidate that many think he is, would certainly be much better in terms of foreign policy.  I am not even really considering him in this discussion though because I am not sure he is approved by the establishment and I also don’t think he can win.

At this point, I think the best-case scenario is for Joe Biden to win the presidency.  He may be a little less hawkish than Clinton.  He would clash with the Republicans and there would be less likelihood of a major war or a major new government program.

The other benefit is that Joe Biden is a bit of a clown.  He has a habit of saying stupid things and doing stupid things.  He puts his foot in his mouth a lot.  The late night shows enjoy his antics.  In other words, I don’t think many people would take him too seriously.  This is the reputation the president should have.

You won’t find me holding a “Biden for President” sign or going to the voting booth to fill in his name, but I think he may be the best-case scenario right now for liberty.  We’ll see.