I know I'm whining, but I wish corporal punishment had been criminalized a few decades earlier.

[Android3.14]

75. Please look up strawman argument

Oh heck, let me show you. A strawman argument is when you make a statement that you attribute to your opponent with which almost anyone would disagree, such as...oh..I dunno, "he thinks children are his personal property," or "my opponent wants to be the boss of all things forever and ever." Then you argue against the fake statement. Exactly like you did.

Ding-ding-ding.

The similarities between the debate on abortion rights and spanking are similar in many ways. They both evoke strong emotion. The questions impact issues of personal responsibility and liberty. Advocates for both use the infringement on personal rights as a defense against control. Advocates for control use the argument of a child's welfare to support the restrictions. Both are an intrusion into areas where the government has no business unless the practice crosses lines that law has defined.

And the biggest similarity is that people who are unhappy about spanking or abortion should both go jump in the lake. It's none of their business.

As far as your remarks regarding my motivations following the phrase "I know...", I can only point out that an argument originating from ignorance tends to end up where it began.

The question comes down to this - Should the government dictate how reasonable (look at that previous word) people should correct their children? The answer to that is, of course, no.

Following that is a much more interesting question.

Is a swat on the butt an unreasonable way to correct a child's behavior? At that point, it becomes a matter of parenting style, and the law means nothing. For example, suppose there was a ban on spanking. Just as abusive spouses find ways to torment their partners, even though domestic violence is against the law, so would an abusive parent find ways to torment a child.

I would suggest a better solution rather than putting forth little fascist intrusions into a person's private life, and one that respects the rights of everyone, is to promote the benefits of abandoning corporal punishment, providing reasonable alternatives to correcting misbehaving children, and giving guidelines to parents who wish to continue using corporal punishment so that their actions stay on the safe side of the line.

Extremism in any form is simply a poor choice.