I'm starting to see a correlation. Maybe the 'cultural' belief we share that it's okay to spank a child explains why some people think it's okay to "pledge hard".
This isn't said to point fingers at anyone who believes it's okay to physically discipline children, but I just can't help drawing that parallel. For the record, I was disciplined as a child, but I don't know that it did anything other than instill a sense of fear --
not respect -- of my parents. I'm not going to be a parent, but if I were, I would never raise a hand to a child. I think that children by and large are a lot more reasonable than we give them credit for, and by hitting them we're not showing them that they deserve punishment, we're showing them that we can exert dominance and superiority over them through violence, and that violence is the best way to resolve any dispute.