Editors at Issues and Insights highlight rare moments of insight from Vermont’s socialist U.S. senator.

In two separate interviews with TV personality Bill Maher, Bernie Sanders said things that were completely reasonable. When a cranky old-world socialist starts to sound more grounded than the Biden administration, you know the country is in trouble.

During a roundtable discussion on his show, Maher makes a point about how the words “equality” and “equity” mean two different things. Then he turns to Sanders and asks: “So how would you differentiate between equity and equality?”

The question baffles Sanders at first. “I don’t know what the answer to that is.” But then he says, “I think that, you know, equality is equality of opportunity. All right?”

Maher then lends Sanders a hand, saying “equity I think is more a guarantee of outcome, is it not?” to which Sanders says, “I think so.”

“So, which side do you come down on?” Maher asks.

“Uh, equality,” Sanders says.

Huh? That’s not in the socialist handbook. It’s not even in the Biden administration handbook, which has decided that equity will be the guide to its policymaking. …

… Yet while team Biden is fixated on equity and “climate,” the rest of the country is wondering how to make ends meet as inflation continues to outpace wages, consumer confidence declines, and voters give Biden failing grades on his handling of the economy.

Which leads to the second thing Sanders said that wasn’t crazy.

In a one-on-one interview, Maher, tells Sanders, “You say like they abandoned their cause to the beautiful people.” To which Sanders says: “When FDR was president, when Truman was president, even when JFK was president, you’re out on the street and you say to people which party represents the working class of America most people. I think they would have said the Democratic party.

“Today, you go out on the street and that is not the sentiment. In fact, the Republican Party probably has more adherents than the Democrats.”

Sanders is right about that, even if he still can’t understand why.