Both teams have rejected the notion of individual liberty. Not when both teams support taxing citizens at different rates based on their income, age, address or occupation. And absolutely not equality, not in the era of race-based legislation that values one individual more than his neighbor. Good and evil. Conservatives believe that people are inherently selfish, or evil.
Liberals believe that people are inherently selfless, or good.
That's the fork in the road that leads, eventually, to Ralph Nader on one side and Pat Buchanan on the other. He will find many fellow travelers in the Democratic Party. Conservatives like myself believe that people in government are, well, people. We understand that our basest human instincts are those of a rat.