So are less dramatic but no less consequential shifts in manners and morals, in taste and sensibility.
Instead, the most notable and potentially consequential shift came in the Senate, where Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, nominally still No. 3 in the slimmed-down majority party's pecking order, gained new power and responsibility for more closely melding the Democrats' strategy and message between now and the very tough 2012 elections.
The perhaps most consequential shift of this type in modern economic history was the rise of, first, Europe, then the West following (what is now often called the First) Industrial Revolution.
Currently, we are in the midst of an equally consequential shift, this time from West to East.
The most consequential shift is captured by the title of her essay, "The Return to Personalistic Rule". After more than three decades in which the CCP sought to institutionalize a degree of collective leadership by, among other measures, respecting term limits for its top officials, these efforts have been reversed with startling suddenness.
The battle of values can be won, and if it is won the shift in economic power will be less consequential.
That is the kind of shift political analysts look for in polls, because it suggests a more lasting and difficult-to-change shift in voters' attitudes that tend to be more consequential than the back-and-forth of the weekly horse race.
Coburn's framework included sustainability, spread, and shift in ownership, along with a fourth dimension: deep and consequential change.
More consequential now, as the administration and Congress determine what to do, is whether the unemployment spike reflects a short-term or permanent shift in demand for workers.
But there's an evident shift in the tenor of Mr. Boland's voice and his songwriting here, turning a band that's been appealing but not consequential into a newly invigorated and steadily striking force.
