Spanking Social Engineers
by B. Friend

Regarding the currently proposed California Law that would prohibit parents from spanking their children under 3 years of age and Bob Barr’s “Anti-Spanking Silliness”, I will be brief.

History..... History..... History..... Our generation suffers from Historical/Cultural Alzheimer's. Our country is over 200 years old. The RULE at least 150 of those years, more often than not, has been "spare the rod (read: don't spank) and spoil the child. During all of those 150 years (prior to Dr. Spock and company) our country has produced some (heck most) of the world's greatest inventors, entrepreneurs and genius'. Out of the "culture of spanking" has come some of the greatest statesmen, stateswomen, presidents, philosophers and the greatest and most prosperous country on earth in known history.

A culture of violence was not the outcome of those 150 years of spanking any more than a culture of violence is a product of the ownership of guns or the culture of capitalism. When I was growing up in the Mid-west, every boy I knew who was over the age of 12 owned a gun. People rode around with rifles hanging in the back windows of their trucks. Anyone over 16 could walk into the local store and buy a rifle (had to have parents permission if under 16 or to buy a handgun). Yet, no one ever committed a Columbine and incidents of kids killing anyone with guns were, as they say, "rare as hen's teeth." Wars? Wars have been the rule of history instead of the exception since as far back as history can record. But domestic violence in our time has become pandemic.

The fact is that our present Culture of Violence did NOT exist during those previous 150 years while Americans were spanking their kids. The fact is that it DOES exist now. Our present culture of violence must, therefore (via simple deduction) be due to something or some things other than spanking.

The one thing that HAS changed in the last 50 years is that many Americans now believe that they should NOT spank or discipline their children and a whole army of well-intentioned social workers and social engineers have decided that what worked for 150 years and produced so many fine and upstanding men and women is no good any more. These same folk believe that the almighty State knows better than parents and that The State (de facto) and not parents owns children and that the state should have primary control over children. They have, increasingly, proposed and enacted laws to this effect, this latest one being the culmination of these beliefs. Also, these same folk have come to believe that we - as a country and as a culture MUST tolerate - well - everything.

The conclusion would seem to be that we should return to doing some of those "awful" things - liike disciplining our own children and, maybe spank some social engineers while we are at it. The principle is DO WHAT WORKS - STOP DOING WHAT DOESN'T WORK. That principle worked fine for 150 years, why stop following it now?

Reverend Bhagavan Friend