I agree with you. Reagan was kind of unique because he made the intellectual journey from the Left early in his career to ending up a rather principled conservative by the time he became Governor of California. This was despite his portrayal by the Media as the dumb, but happy warrior. I remember years ago reading a book that had copies of his personal correspondence to and from intellectuals, voters, other politicians, etc. It was quite enlightening because I came away from it thinking he was a pretty deep thinker. I did not think the puddle was too deep before I read that book.