. >> reporter: for peter wehner, a former deputy assistant to president george w. bush, the issue is freedom. >> this country was founded on liberty. it wasn't founded on income equality. and there is a certain view, which i subscribe to, which says that people ought to be able to keep much or most of what they earn and to have the government in the business of taking it and deciding how it, the government, will spend it rather than you as an individual i think is flawed, and i think it's contrary to much of the american tradition, and i happen not to think that's consistent with ethical or moral or religious traditions as we. >> reporter: but according to michael sandel, fairness -- "sharing the burdens of a free and good society" -- may compel a significant redistribution of wealth. >> some people do work harder than others, but what's reflected in the vast income inequalities that we've seen in recent years is not hard work primarily. school teachers work hard, bus drivers work hard, kindergarten teachers, daycare workers, they work hard. do they work less hard