I had a professor (an exchange from the University of Mumbai(Bombay) who taught History of the British Empire.

He stated that the British Empire and the US needed both the liberals and the conservatives.
He said the Liberals kept coming up with new ideas but seldom had the practical government sk**ls to finance and implement them or distinguish the good from the bad ideas.
The Conservatives were usually content to not change things that already worked but would carefully observe, decide which ideas were good and then had the sk**ls to implement them.

He also said that as long as the two sides just thought of the other as "different" things worked fine. It was when they started to see the other side as "the enemy" that the real problems started.

When I turned 21 I registered as a Republican. I did so because I grew up in a Republican household and my father had a sole-proprietor business. He wanted the independence and freedom to succeed or fail on his own. After the Air Force and Viet Nam and then college, I remained a Republican. Even though I went to work in the corporate world I tried several different ways to start a business and become independent. Sometimes my attempts succeeded and other times not, but my growing alcoholism forced me to "keep my day job". After getting sober, I started my own business, owned several income properties and did quite well, without government help. Not exactly rags to riches, but from paycheck dependent to successful.
If I had adopted the Democrat dogma, I would have lost my job, gone on disability, continued my alcoholism, been dependent on government programs, remained on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder, and blamed someone else on my condition.
I believe the Republicans on the lower levels of the economy remain republicans because they still believe they can move up, or at least independent and not become attached to and dependent on the government teat. I have over-simplified this and know that there are many stories from the left wing and the right wing.
But the right wing and the left wing both belong on the same bird!