by S. Mills

Created on: March 19, 2007   Last Updated: April 19, 2007

Until people stop arrogantly judging others and disingenuously equating spanking to "violence," we will continue to see intrusive bills such as the anti-spanking bill in California. People need to learn that there is a difference between a swat on the bottom and a "beating."

Contrary to the "it takes a village" mentality, the government has no business injecting itself into private family business and child rearing decisions, unless and until it is proven that a parent has acted outside a child's best interest.

Also, the government cannot have it both ways. If parents are to be held legally and financially responsible for their children's actions then the government cannot forbid parents to discipline their children. If parents are not allowed to curb their children's behavior with traditional disciplinary methods then they certainly cannot be blamed when unwanted behavior occurs and in fact escalates.

While no direct causal factor has yet been proven, the correlation between the decrease in spanking since say the 1960's and the increase in youth crime and violence since that time is quite clear.

Besides, our state and federal governments appear to have their hands full keeping their own houses in order. Maybe, just maybe, if they spent less time in our houses, they could clean up their own.

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