The Democratic Party of recent memory has been the picture of unity. President Joe Biden appears to have solidified the neo-liberal and progressive factions within the party, as evidenced by his lack of a serious primary challenge from the Left (no, Marianne Williamson is not a serious challenger). Party unity was also on display during the recent vote for Speaker of the House, during which the Democratic bloc stood firm while Republicans flailed their way to a suboptimal compromise.

However, comments made by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) during an appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher exposed an unexpected fault line within the Democratic Party, as well as within secular-progressive culture. Maher raised a question many liberals have thought but never asked out loud, as is his wont: What exactly is the difference between “equality” and “equity”? Sanders immediately began to stammer on stage, and this set Twitter ablaze. How could Sanders, darling of the Left and two-time runner-up for the Democratic nomination for president, not have a ready explanation for what has become the predominant concept of the progressive movement?

"Equality is equality of opportunity," Sanders finally said after trying and failing to collect his thoughts a few times.

Maher, to his credit, continued to press the issue. "Equity, I think, is more of a guarantee of outcome, is it not?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Sanders said.

At this point, Sanders was already guaranteed to make headlines for blowing what should have been a "gimme." But it was his subsequent comment that should have sent alarm bells ringing across the DEI industrial complex that has captured every major non-religious cultural institution in America (and even some religious ones), not to mention the current Democratic White House.

"Which side do you come down on?" Maher asked.

"Equality," Sanders responded.

Yes, you read that right. The democratic socialist star is now on record saying he favors traditional equality over the Left’s hyper-ideological “equity.”

Sanders’s comments stand in stark contrast to comments on the White House’s official website , which affirm the executive branch’s commitment to “deliver more equitable outcomes across our nation.” They also contradict with the views of Vice President Kamala Harris, whose infamous campaign ad in 2020 offered the most honest definition of the controversial term: "Equitable treatment means we all end up in the same place."

While the words “equity” and “equality” sound similar — hence the mass confusion among the public — their meanings could not be more disparate. For most, “equity” is a stand-in for “super-equality,” which is simply the natural consequence of moral enlightenment as the decades pass. But cultural Leftists and their allies in government and media know perfectly well what the term really means, and they work diligently to impose its tenets across American life.

For instance, Ibram X. Kendi, whose MacArthur Genius grant and endless plaudits confirm that he is the most influential thinker of modern progressivism, relies heavily upon the concept of equity to describe his theory of "antiracism." He argues that the existence of unequal outcomes along racial categories is evidence of racism and racism alone. Therefore, in order to ensure the end of racism in America, the government must engineer outcomes. Kendi has even gone so far as to propose that we establish and permanently fund a federal "Department of Antiracism" to this end.

Given Sanders's stated opposition to the idea, it must be concluded that, according to the logic of Kendi and his powerful allies in the White House and in the media, Sanders is a racist. After all, there's no middle ground in the theory of anti-racism. You are either an antiracist or a racist. And the only way to prove loyalty to antiracism is to promote equitable outcomes.

Of course, Sanders’s position, as stated on Real Time, is the correct one, which is why Democrats and their media allies have responded to his heresy with uncomfortable silence. The implementation of the DEI agenda, as defined by Kendi, always depended upon mass ignorance and confusion. No country in its right mind would ever pursue such a program following the horrors of 20th-century communism.

For the good of the country, let’s hope Bernie’s vision wins out.

Peter Laffin is a contributor at the Washington Examiner and the founder of Crush the College Essay. His work has also appeared in RealClearPolitics, the Catholic Thing, the National Catholic Register, and the American Spectator.