Yes, a character's, well, character will change depending on whoever wrote that week's episode, or even that segment of the episode. It becomes all the more apparent in today's marathonable television culture; it's much easier to spot when a character does something inconsistent with the last episode when there's not even a commercial break in between. I have a series on DVD where, if you play the director's commentary, they actually joke about this sort of thing.
So to some of the writers, Ron is a true libertarian, whereas to others, he's more of a stereotypical MAGA type.
I like your point about marathon watching. It's was easier to forget what a character is meant to be like when we saw it just once a week.
When a show is done well, it can be satisfying to see the characters change gradually and logically over time. I'm reminded of the Buffy cast.
Lately The Wife & I have been watching the first season of Star Trek Next Generation. (We saw it on Netflix and realized we'd never seen most of the episodes.) Now here's a show where it feels like the actors are just a bunch of puppets, with reactions and responses that are bewilderingly different from episode to episode.
Granted it's an older show from a different time. But we're curious to see how the show finds its stride in the later seasons which we think we remember a little better.