You know, when I was a wee lad, I used to say that I would never spank my future children. Now that I am older, two revelations have come to me. 1) I'll probably never have any children. 2) Spankings are VERY effective, when used properly.
I'll just share a quick story with all of you. I was taking a walk around my local neighborhood yesterday. A man was out in his driveway washing his pickup truck. His wife and two daughters were playing in a kiddie pool on the lawn. The younger daughter ran across the street. This is not a busy street, but there could have easily been a car coming and that child did not exactly look both ways. The father darted across the street, grabbed his daughter, pulled her back across the street, and gave her a tap on the rump. It was not a hard spank, but it was enough.
Physical punishment needs to be applied in the proper context and in the proper degree in order to buy effective.