Goldwater begat Reagan? I have trouble with that.
I mean they stood together on some things, but many Repubs rejected Goldwater’s Libertarian views on a number of issues.
Furthermore, Ron Paul supported Reagan early in the process, before most of congress chose to do so, but ceased to support him after his spending was out of hand toward the end of his tenure.
There is a major difference between supporting a candidate at some point, and being completely aligned. Afterall, even Bush said the right things in 2000 before he was elected. At that time he promoted a humble foreign policy, low spending, and small government. He too abandoned those principles once in power but that doesn’t make all of his 2000 supporters hypocrites.