Put in slightly different terms, to the horizontal or egalitarian dimension of morality emphasized by the left, the right adds a vertical dimension that encompasses such moral norms, experiences, and ideals as formality, order, modesty, nobility, piety, rectitude, communal solidarity, private and public honor, and steadfast adherence to standards of right conduct and traditional restraints.

These norms, experiences, and ideals are not unique or novel. On the contrary, they connect conservatives morally to many non-Western and traditional cultures. Viewed historically, it’s the modern left that’s unique in focusing so heavily on the horizontal dimension of morality while directing so much outright hostility to its vertical dimension.

There’s a reason why concern for the vertical dimension of morality is so prevalent throughout human history and so stubbornly (and for Robin, ominously) persistent even within the modern West: because the human experience of the world organically generates that concern.