I can see Reagan being a Democrat in the 1930s and 1940s, before he started campaigning for Republicans in the 1950s, after all that was before the 60s and Vietnam and Abortion and Gay Rights, and Feminism and Jimmy Carter, The Reagan Revolution, Etc.
It does puzzle me being AGAINST The Reagan Revolution, supporting Carter in 1980, supporting Mondale in 1984, supporting Al Gore in 1988, and enlisting and becoming leadership in the left DURING the Reagan Presidency and the ending of the Cold War.
How does the 1980s and President Reagan, turn a natural born conservative, INTO a Democrat politician and Democrat opposition leader?
I don't think Reagan turned him into anything. There was a long line of more or less conservative Southern Democrats and Perry seems to have been bringing up the rear.
Charlie Wilson (of the Tom Hanks movie fame) was another. They certainly weren't against Reagan's Cold War policies. They were just yellow dog Democrats following a 100-year tradition.
Having a father who took him to Sam Rayburn's funeral probably did something to keep Perry in that tradition. He's not my candidate for anything, but I doubt he was acting out of a strong negative reaction to Reagan.
You know nothing about Texas politics. In the 1980’s, Republicans were rare in Texas. A lot of the Democrats were pretty conservative. So it is not unusual that a conservative from west Texas would be a Dem. And can you substantiate your claim that Perry was in the “leadership of the left”? I didn’t think so.