In searching for solutions to personal, social, and political
problems, there is a desire to locate that one point upon which change
revolves. For example, pro-lifers are those who believe that if we
eliminate abortion, then a ?culture of life? will blossom to reform
our lives and our society. Pro-lifers have made abortion a focal point
because they believe it generates the most ?bang for the buck?
in terms of converting their small efforts into major changes.

Another example where this word could be used comes from my first
driving lesson. When I started driving forward, the teacher told me to
drive straight because the car was drifting to the left. I replied
that I was driving straight because the symbol on the steering wheel
was pointing up. I incorrectly thought that the symbol on the steering
wheel should be my focal point to keep the car going straight.

Words I have already considered are catalystic and nonlinear. A
catalyst is something small that initiates a major reaction. Nonlinear
refers to an input causing a disproportionate output. However, while
both communicate the essence of major change from minimal effort,
neither communicates that this is the point or button that controls
the system.

I would prefer a word that already exists but will consider a newly
coined word or phrase that makes sense.

---

Clarification of Question by synergic-ga on 13 Jan 2006 21:51 PST

I posted the question on www.wordwizard.com and received an answer I
like: Trigger Point. Therefore, I am canceling the question. Thanks to
everyone for their comments.

What about "fulcrum", the point on which a lever turns?

I am very fond of Kurt Vonnegut's word "wampeter," which is a turning
point around which a group of cosmically-interrelated people (called a
"karass") revolve. These terms come from the fictional religion of
Bokononism, as described in Vonnegut's "Cat's Cradle."

"A wampeter is the pivot of a karass. No karass is without a wampeter,
Bokonon tells us, just as no wheel is without a hub. Anything can be a
wampeter: a tree, a rock, an animal, idea, a book, a melody, the Holy
Grail. Whatever it is, the members of its karass revolve about it in
the majestic chaos of a spiral nebula."

Maybe "tipping point" would work, despite the best-selling book titled thus...

" A wampeter is "the pivot of a karass, around which the souls of the
members of the karass revolve." A karass  has two wampeters at any
time, one waxing and one waning."
http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/personal/bokonon.html#words

Hmm, sounds kind of tricky, the souls of the members of the karass
revolving around two wampeters,
but it this introduces the expression:  Pivot, or Pivital Point.

Universal panacea

Keystone objective

Your examples are slightly different, one is destroying an obstacle
and the other is a false lode star.

The word you want is "nexus". Here is one of the definations from the OED

"A central point or point of convergence; a focus; a meeting-place"

Sorry for the typo - I meant definition, of course. Here is a
quotation from the OED that seems to fit your meaning:

1971 in T. D. F. Barnard New Direct. in Librarianship 44 There are new
trends towards treating the library as a nexus for resource centre
development.

A poetic interpretation would be "the butterfly" from chaos theory's
butterfly effect. While not precisely what you mean in the
mathematical sense, it does evoke the idea of major changes stemming
from a small focal point.

What about synergy

The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined
effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.
Dictionary.com

Try the following:

Crux, pivot, hinge, hinge of history, (dawn(ing) of) a new age/era,
tipping point, shift in the centre of gravity/balance of power, nexus,
nerve centre, centre of operations, a new (world) order, sea change,
point of no return, Rubicon, moment of destiny/decision, decisive
moment/point, decision time, make-your-mind-up time, critical
moment/point, fateful moment, moment of fate, fork in the road,
seminal moment.

How about 'prime mover' defined as

"the original or most effective force in an undertaking or work"
(Webster's Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary)

Perhaps a little clunky, but then, after all, it was you got me
started on this topic...

Have a good day.