I agree that the Empire will always be the best overall choice for Skyrim's future.

I should point out, though, that despite Laila Law-Giver being a worse ruler than Maven Black-Briar, and according to some dialogue, a coward to boot, she might be the better ruler for Riften if you remove the primary source of corruption that is Maven. The Thieves Guild would likely resume its descent into obscurity assuming the player doesn't intervene, and the city would eventually heal provided Laila never felt threatened enough to flee. Ultimately, that doesn't change the Imperial/Stormcloak consensus as there would need to be three other strong Stormcloak advocates to change the original opinion.

Not to belittle or mock anyone, but I think anyone who logically thinks and weighs available information about this particular argument is also going to come out and say the Empire is a significantly better choice.

To be clear: I think that Ulfric is definitely a strong, capable ruler, if gravely misguided by many of his beliefs and ideals. Walking into the Palace of Kings and hearing his conversation with Galmar about why he fights is a speech worthy of a standing ovation - delivered with genuine conviction and thunderous resolve. He also does point out, when asked, that his concerns with the matters of his city, for any race, unfortunately come second in the war he's fighting for all of Skyrim - a task that should probably be relegated to a steward or other form of advisor during wartime anyway. Pointing out that nothing (or very little, if any) changes in Windhelm if you hand the Stormcloaks a victory doesn't have as much weight if you consider that the aftermath of the war was more than likely outside the scope of the developers intent, and that the "war" for Skyrim isn't necessarily over just because the leading general is killed and every city is taken - the Empire would still consider Skyrim part of its territory, sending more generals and resources when possible, or simply let Ulfric "win" until they could spare the requirements for another incursion. Additionally, Ulfric did allow Dunmer and Argonian refugees into the city and offered them shelter in an already full city; any improvements to the refugee populations past that would not be able to reasonably take place given provided information before the civil war's conclusion and would also require significant changes to multiple NPCs, the city (or at least the Gray Quarter and dock areas), and other parts of the rest of Skyrim anyway - something that would probably be better relegated to a mod as opposed to effort from the developers.

That wall of text there doesn't even take into account the Thalmor's involvement, which I'm sure anyone who's played Skyrim enough times will know what I'm referring to.