When my oldest daughter was a year old, we had an issue with the nursery of our church at the time.
When we would take her in there, she would fuss. She wasn't used to being away from us, and needed to adjust to the nursery surroundings.
The problem was, one nursery worker would come get us at the first sign of a whimper. Another instituted a "five minute" cry rule. Still another would bear through the entire church service to try to get her used to the nursery environment.
We met with the workers during their monthly meetings. The problem, we said, was consistency. They needed one policy, and they needed to stick by it. It is how we operate at home, and, I believe, how a nursery should be run (I later decided that if a babysitter came to me at the first sign of a baby's crying, we would never use them again, so we switched choices...but I digress).
Consistency is one thing I see as the common element lacking among liberals (who feel that the federal government should dictate everything to the states EXCEPT when they feel the rule is violable), conservatives (who feel that states should be free from undue intervention EXCEPT when they feel the rule is violable), conservative Christians (who feel that life is sacred...except when it's the life of a convicted criminal or inner city thug), homosexuals (who believe the government shouldn't interfere in the privacy of a person's home...except to keep those damned polygamists from practicing as they see fit), and virtually every major group in society.
Fortunately, individuals are bigger than their groups, and you find many INDIVIDUALS who don't fit into that mold. But the larger point remains.
If you want free speech to protest US intervention in Iraq, you need to defend the free speech of the Klansman you detest.
If you want academic freedom to compare the victims of the WTC attack to Adolph Eichmann, you need to defend the academic freedom of those whose position papers state their opinion that you are a ninny.
If you feel the life of a fetus in the womb is worth saving, so is the life of a violent child who has grown up in an atmosphere of hate and rage and a lack of moral guidance.
If you feel that religious freedom must be defended for Christians, it must also be defended for Muslims, Buddhists, Jews, Wiccans, and any other religious group in order to be a free society.
Consistency is how we show ourselves dedicated to a cause and a purpose. Inconsistency in thought and action undermines our stated goals and values. While all of us are prone to inconsistency, it is in our own best interests to evaluate it, to think it through, and to attempt to be more consistent in our daily thoughts and actions.