Yet, the essence of American policy toward Iran – shaped around threats, sanctions, and demands that Iran submit to western power without expecting much in return – is unlikely to change.
The new farm law did not change the essence of that policy, which forces the farmer to get big or get out, said Chuck Hassebrook, project director for the Center for Rural Affairs, a nonprofit advocacy group in Walthill, Neb., that works for family farms and rural communities.
She told the BBC "choice was at the essence" of the policy.
Under the current administration, those targets have been relaxed at the request of state educators but the essence of the policy remains: testing and transparency for all students and interventions for schools that fall short -- truth and consequences.
Well-informed initial reports suggested that the essence of the policy had been dictated by the seriously ailing prophet Thomas S. Monson and imposed, unvetted, on the governing quorums of the church, and could be "adjusted" as it was incorporated in the Handbook of Instructions for local leaders.
This would seriously undermine the insurance pool by allowing healthy people to stay out of it until they need treatment, removing the cross-subsidization of users by non-users that's the essence of all insurance policies.
Up until now, the government has either bluntly rejected external criticism as "interference in its internal affairs" or made cosmetic changes and minor concessions, without touching the essence of its policies.
The Defense Department's initial memo, containing the essence of current Pentagon policy, was called "Accelerate the Transition to Self-Reliance".
Mutual assured destruction, the essence of U.S. deterrence policy during the Cold War, remains a condition of life in the 21st century.
"The essence of his foreign policy is isolationism, a notion that the United States shouldn't always be getting involved in other people's business — let them decide," Lukyanov said.
