Everybody in politics has to play by cabal rules to succeed up to a point. He did a minimum of that while maximizing America first whenever possible. Then did a hostile people's takeover of the party just like Trump. For practical purposes foiled the Soviet-backed infiltration/coup that was tee'd up by Carter. Would've taken us out like China is trying to, but he neutralized that. Listen to his speeches- they're good, and they're real. He cracked down on Hollywood, porn and held the tide against the growing welfare state, and welfare itself to a degree. Fired government workers that went on strike (air traffic controllers). But yes, he had his limits and couldn't break out more than he did.

He was an awesome governor of California. Back then we had no unions in state employment (that was introduced under Jerry Brown, and thus began the slide into socialism, as it's been mostly downhill for the state since then) and all roads were freeways. A signature move was to veto the motorcycle helmet law, simply because (I'm paraphrasing) "people can wear helmets if they want to. I just don't think its government's job to tell people what to do like that." Always had a block of Harley-riding supporters at every rally after that.