Justice and the American Way

We have just endured another divisive and polarizing political season. It seems that we are either red or blue and only 6 million votes determined a winner in the current contest. From the outside and to the uninformed observer, it appears to boil down to a question of small government vs big government, more taxes or less taxes, "freedom" vs government control. At least seven legislators chose not to run for reelection citing gridlock and acrimony as their reasons. We seem to have reached an empass or stalemate and spiraled into political paralysis. Where to from here?
Michael Sandel, a professor of political philosophy at Harvard University and author of Justice, has offered a possible solution and new direction that I think is worth considering. There are many kinds of justice--retributive, distributive, etc.--, but what he is talking about is what the law should be and how society should be organized. These are questions of justice which our polity has answered in terms of maximizing welfare and respecting freedom. But lest you think one is blue and the other red, let me quickly clarify by saying that welfare can have red and blue inplications as well as freedom. Welfare can pertain to economic incentives for personal achievement as well as social programs to care for the unfortunate. Freedom can refer to individual choice on ALL matters and creating a level playing field through government regulations, e.g. Affirmative Action. We have been and are sharply divided within and between these definitions.
Sandel interjects into this conversation the third idea of promoting virtue. He asks, "Does a just society seek to promote the virtue of its citizens? Should law be neutral toward competing comceptions of virtue?"  Ancient theories of justice start with virtue; modern theories start with freedom. Do we decide as a society what is just or do we let "each man do what is right in their own eyes (as the Book of Judges describes it)?"
Obviously all aspects are important and to be considered, but I stand with Sandel in advocating a return to virtue as our guiding principle.