<...the basic conflict is between those who think that individuals are intelligent and can make the best choices for themselves based on their own needs and circumstances, and those who think that these same individuals are basically ignorant and wrong-headed and should be forced into the choices made for them by their intellectual betters.

I still submit that much of the long human battle between freedom and tyranny can be so described.

Neither liberals nor conservatives have a monopoly on either of the two categories that I mention above.

That being said, I do believe that many more leftists fall into the controlling category than do not. Although there are indeed conservatives with an unpleasant theocratic streak, your typical conservative will not have the desire of your typical leftist to be in control of just about everything under the sun that you can think of.

Fortunately for all of us, a vast majority of the inhabitants of the United States, whether they describe themselves as liberal or conservative, tend to be well-meaning people who think that "live and let live" is a pretty good idea and, since they possess actual lives, don't usually have time for heavy politics. The problems arise when they elect, usually based on a somewhat cursory examination of candidates and issues, people who not only have time for heavy politics, but in fact live for it. These are often the controlling type, particularly since our current political system actually tends to select for them.

And for the record, I think conservatives are stereotyped as dummies a lot more often than the other way around.