Now, though, it’s much less likely to happen. With the GOP overwhelmingly in favor of striking ISIS, Paul has squirmed his way into grudging support for a policy he would be unlikely to support under different circumstances. If events conspire to keep Paul from running for president on the basis of his distinctive position on foreign policy, it’s far from clear what he’ll be bringing to the contest that sets him apart from his likely competition for the Republican nomination.

Like Ted Cruz, for example, who is reportedly fixing to run a campaign oriented around a severe critique of “Obama-Clinton foreign policy.” Think of George W. Bush without the democratizing ambitions. “It is not the job of our military to occupy countries across the globe and try to turn them into democratic utopias,” Cruz tells National Journal. Though it certainly is the job of our military, in Cruz’s view, “to hunt down and kill those who would threaten to murder Americans.” I doubt anyone running for president would disagree with that statement — or at least dare to express that disagreement publicly.

And therein lies our problem. From the president and Hillary Clinton on through a long line of possible Republican candidates, no one likely to be involved in the 2016 race for the White House seems inclined to diverge from the militaristic consensus that dominates official Washington and plays so well in the American heartland.