Wow. Seems as though my mindset is not the consensus.
Let me give you a couple hypotheticals.
1. A child is about to stick a metal object into a light socket.
Gonna hurt and could cause, severe trauma, even death.
2. A child continually acts up towards his sibling, parent, or teacher, and taking away priviledges/grounding does not seem to be getting through.
3. A child gets into serious trouble, i.e. shoplifting. The consequences to this action can become serious if it's not nipped in the bud, and so, I would argue that if a child displays repeated, unrepentant lying, or theft of sibling or parent property, a good spanking is warranted.
Basically, I was disciplined, spanked pretty often as a child. But it didn't diminish my love or respect for my parents, as I knew they loved me and they weren't taking their anger out on me, but disciplining me. I didn't really appreciate the discipline until I was much older, as is often the case, but I dont think my parents were in the wrong for spanking me. On the other hand, some of the other punishments I recieved, when i became too old to be spanked, i feel were over the top. Nothing abusive, but punishment far outweighed the crime.
Anyway. Thanks for your responses. I will spend some time introspectively considering your points and my own views.