I know a lot of people who were physically abused as children and became screwed up adults as a result of it.
I know a lot of people who were never physically disciplined as children and became screwed up adults as a result of it.
I know many people who were occasionally (1-10 times) disciplined as children and became great adults.
As a result? Who knows? But the line doesn't seem to be 0 vs >0.
He got to see what would happen.
And you know what? He never did anything like that again.
I don't think that spanking should be a go-to punishment, but in some cases, especially those involving high danger, a small child needs to have a fundamental fear of breaking certain rules.
I'd rather have to give a child a spanking for trying to run out into the road than to have a dead child and some sort of moral superiority.
Look, I agree that the state should have a lot of leeway in letting parents decide what is best for their children. But in and of itself, spanking is the direct use of physical harm (the fact people even split straws on whether or not it causes "lasting damage" is really the wrong question to be asking) to a child to get your way, whether you feel it's justified or not. And there is this reflexive defense of it because it's just this completely weirdly ritualized punishment where people have completely distanced themselves from the idea that while yes, they are inflicting physical pain upon their children, they've made themselves comfortable with the idea because it's a traditional parenting method.