The feeling is of a creative voice materializing out of nowhere, as if by divine command — which, indeed, is how the usually levelheaded Puccini said that he was summoned to write opera.
On one level, there's nothing nefarious about parroting central command -- indeed, it's the sort of discipline that allows Republicans to get their message across.
To paraphrase a bad children's joke, the observation that an amputee frog does not jump in response to verbal commands is indeed a prediction of the model that frogs hear with their legs.
But as that potential imbalance commands discussion and it has indeed commanded a great deal of discussion there's often too little said about a big edge that Obama has over Romney, one that Romney can't take away.
If her actions were to match her words, then she would indeed command the entire political landscape and the heavens beyond.
Gay soldiers like me were waving the flag ten years ago, unionising and going to Pride without the blessing of the command structure and, indeed, very much to their irritation.
If a seller persuades you that their brand new home does indeed command a price "premium", and you sell up in a short time, you could find yourself in a serious financial hole.
With such unamiable feelings towards his hearers, the preacher might indeed command their respect, but could never excite their sympathy.
Finally, because we see ourselves in him, the tragic villain commands our sympathy (indeed, the difference between the tragic and the melodramatic villain is quite precisely that).
No wonder, then, that business spending on new plant and equipment has been so weak for so long: The sky-scraping stock market of the late 1990's (which indeed commanded valuations higher than those of 1929) induced enough corporate spending to sate demand and cause a recession.
