authorityresearch.com

The attack is upon the American Middle-Class Family (Bourgeoisie)
by Government/Education/Work/Church

by

Dean Gotcher

For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law. Proverbs 4:2

And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. Mark 1: 22

And the scribes and chief priests heard it, and sought how they might destroy him: for they feared him, because all the people was astonished at his doctrine. Mark 11:18

John 7:16-49

    Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself. He that speaketh of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him. Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?
    The people answered and said, Thou hast a devil: who goeth about to kill thee? Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marvel. Moses therefore gave unto you circumcision; (not because it is of Moses, but of the fathers;) and ye on the sabbath day circumcise a man. If a man on the sabbath day receive circumcision, that the law of Moses should not be broken; are ye angry at me, because I have made a man every whit whole on the sabbath day? Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.
    Then said some of them of Jerusalem, Is not this he, whom they seek to kill?  But, lo, he speaketh boldly, and they say nothing unto him. Do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ? Howbeit we know this man whence he is: but when Christ cometh, no man knoweth whence he is.
    Then cried Jesus in the temple as he taught, saying, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am: and I am not come of myself, but he that sent me is true, whom ye know not. But I know him: for I am from him, and he hath sent me. Then they sought to take him: but no man laid hands on him, because his hour was not yet come. And many of the people believed on him, and said, When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?
    The Pharisees heard that the people murmured such things concerning him; and the Pharisees and the chief priests sent officers to take him. Then said Jesus unto them, Yet a little while am I with you, and then I go unto him that sent me. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come. Then said the Jews among themselves, Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? will he go unto the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? What manner of saying is this that he said, Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither ye cannot come?
    In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
    Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet. Others said, This is the Christ. But some said, Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David, and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was? So there was a division among the people because of him. And some of them would have taken him; but no man laid hands on him. Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees; and they said unto them, Why have ye not brought him? The officers answered, Never man spake like this man. Then answered them the Pharisees, Are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him? But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.

Acts 5:27-29

    And when they had brought them, they set them before the council: and the high priest asked them, Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us. Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.

Romans 6:15

    What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Romans 16:17-20

    Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them. For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. For your obedience is come abroad unto all men. I am glad therefore on your behalf: but yet I would have you wise unto that which is good, and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

2 Timothy 3:16, 17

    All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

2 Timothy 4:3, 4

    For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

2 John 1:9-11

    Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

2 Timothy 1:11-13

    Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles. For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

Galatians 1:9-12

    As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ. But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:8-11

    We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.

"Obedience and compliance are hardly ideal goals."
"Marx was more right than wrong."
A cookbook on humans.
INFLUENCE
Social engineering is the artcraft of creating an environment.
Lenin hated the traditional family business.
ON SPANKING YOUR CHILD

"Obedience and compliance are hardly ideal goals." 
Taxonomy of Education Objectives Book I Cognitive Domain 1956

"For the dialectical method the central problem is to change reality.… reality with its ‘obedience to laws.'"
György Lukács History & Class Consciousness Class Consciousness What is Orthodox Marxism? March, 1919

The attack is upon the American Middle-Class Family (Bourgeoisie) by Government/Education/Work/Church

        A drum beat, mind-numbing, unyieldingly, repeating, repeating, repeating, pulsating, invading all space, no one, it would seem, can escape its unrelenting pounding.  From that day in the garden, mankind has been marching to this dialectical process, the beat, which Eve and then Adam initiated; the day of the first drum beat, there in the garden of Eden.

For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. Romans 5:19

"The conception of the ideal family situation for the child: uncritical obedience to the father and elders, pressures directed unilaterally from above to below, inhibition of spontaneity and emphasis on conformity to externally imposed values."" Theodor Adorno The Authoritarian Personality

"By making the object need satisfaction, in other words mankind and his desires, rather than obedience toward authority, participants shift their way of thinking from absolutes and sovereignty to relativism/humanism/socialism." Dean Gotcher

"The guilty conscience is formed in childhood by the incorporation of the parents and the wish to be father of oneself." Norman O. Brown Life Against Death

Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? Romans 6:16

"The most effective method for weakening the child's will is to arouse his sense of guilt."
"The most important symptom of the defeat in the fight for oneself is the guilty conscience."  
Erick Fromm Escape from Freedom

If you can not destroy a persons faith in God, since he fears God, destroy his faith mechanism through the praxis of questioning authority. Dean Gotcher

"Social control is most effective at the individual level. The personal conscience is the key element in ensuring self-control, refraining from deviant behavior even when it can be easily perpetrated." "The family, the next most important unit affecting social control, is obviously instrumental in the initial formation of the conscience and in the continued reinforcement of the values that encourage law abiding behavior." Dr. Robert Trojanowicz The meaning of "Community" in Community Policing

"Unfortunately, because of the reduction of influence exerted by neighbors, the extended family and even the family, social control is now often more dependent on external control, than on internal self-control." Dr. Robert Trojanowicz The meaning of "Community" in Community Policing

"...  the super-ego ‘unites in itself the influences of the present and of the past.'" Norman O. Brown Life Against Death

"It is a function of the ego to make peace with conscience, to create a larger synthesis within which conscience, emotional impulses, and self operate in relative harmony." "When this synthesis is not achieved, the superego has somewhat the role of a foreign body within the personality, and it exhibits those rigid, automatic, and unstable aspects discussed above." Theodor Adorno The Authoritarian Personality

"The superego is conceived in psychoanalysis as functioning substantially in the same way as the conscience." "Superego development is conceived as the incorporation of the moral standards of society." "Therefore the levels of the Taxonomy should describe successive levels of goal setting appropriate to superego development." Benjamin S. Bloom Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Book I Cognitive Domain

"This voice which really isn't you but tells you the way the world works is a direct attack on creativity. We have to work to remove it." "When we learn to silence the inner voice that judges yourself and others, there is no limit to what we can accomplish, individually and as part of a team. Absence of judgment makes you more receptive to innovative ideas." Michael Ray Maslow on Management, Abraham Maslow, John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1998. p. 223, 225

"Marx was more right than wrong."

    If you want a clear understanding of why America has degenerated to its current level of depravity you must know the Word of God, what it really says, and the process of the dialectic.  A "church growth," Rick Warren thinking "Christian" responded to my statement that Marxism is evil with "Marx was more right than wrong."  This attitude is reflected in almost all our current thinking.  What would have been unthinkable a couple of generations ago has now become the norm.

"He was more right than wrong."

    "He was more right than wrong." can be engraved upon the tombstone of a demolition expert, a test pilot, etc. It can be the sign at the entrance (or exit) of the garden of Eden.  Eve was right on all counts of perception, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil was good for food, pleasing to the eyes, and desirable to make one wise.  In the moment wrong can seem right and right can seem wrong.  In the long run, right is always right and wrong is always wrong.  Our perception can tell us what "seems to be right" in the moment but seeing the full picture we would understand it as being wrong.

    The art of fly fishing, say for trout, is the art of deception.  The object is to entrap the subject with his need of the moment.  What every fly fisherman hears from the first day he becomes aware of such a method of fishing is to "match the hatch."  In other words his best success in hooking the fish is to match as close as possible, the shape, color, action, etc. of the insect the trout is currently feeding on, his "felt" needs.  Two conditions help in producing a successful fishing day. The need of the fish to eat, and the shortness of time it has to discern whether what he is about to consume is real or not.  Many other factors apply as well such as any sight of danger by the fish.

The art of trout fishing is built upon the artcraft of deceit. The agenda of the fisherman, is to facilitate the environment in such a way as to limit the fish's ability to discern anything unusual, until it is too late for the fish.  By the standards of observation, it could be said, the trout was "more right than wrong," as you cook it up for supper.

A cookbook on humans, Human Relations in Curriculum Change, presents in glorious details the artcraft of manipulating the environment to capture America, and serve it up.

"In the eyes of the dialectical nothing is absolute or sacred, nothing is established for all times."  Karl Marx

"By dialectical I mean an activity of consciousness, struggling to circumvent the limitations imposed by the formal logical law of contradiction."  Norman O. Brown,  Life Against Death

"We must develop persons who see non-influencability of private convictions in joint deliberations as a vice rather than a virtue."
Kenneth Benne,  Human Relations in Curriculum Change

"Whoever defines terms controls life." Dean Gotcher

INFLUENCE

an emanation of occult power held to derive from stars.
an emanation of spiritual or moral force.
the act or power of producing an effect without apparent exertion of force or direct exercise of command.
corrupt interference with authority for personal gain.
the power or capacity of causing or altering an effect by indirect or intangible ways. SWAY
to have an effect on the condition or development. MODIFY
under the influence. TO AFFECT
Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary 

PRIVATE

restricted to the individual or arising independently of others "private opinion"
intended for or restricted to the use of a particular person, group, or class
belonging to or concerning an individual person, company, or interest
not general in effect "a private statute"
unsuitable for public use or display
Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary

CONVICTIONS

    "a strong persuasion or belief: the state of being convinced."
doctrine, dogma, certainty, assuredness, confidence, sureness, surety.
Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary 

      Social engineering is the artcraft of creating an environment in which people will change the way they think and behave for the sake of social approval.  By liberalizing the climate, where a person is allowed to freedom to express their feelings toward authority, the fear of or respect for authority is removed ("e.g., if the adult goes away or loses his authority"). Thus a persons respect for or fear of authority figures becomes erased from their brain (brain washing) when they participate in such action (praxis―therapy).

"The negative valence of a forbidden object which in itself attracts the child thus usually derives from an induced field of force of an adult. If this field of force loses its psychological existence for the child (e.g., if the adult goes away or loses his authority) the negative valence also disappears."
Kurt Lewin A Dynamic Theory of Personality: Selected Papers, McGraw Hill

    Social engineers know that by replacing this "induced field of force" (traditional family setting) with a permissive environment, a change in a persons perception of the world will take place. This is the stuff "force field analysis" is made of.

"Work done by Horkheimer in the thirties identified 'neurosis as a social product, in which the family was seen as a primary agent of repressive socialization.'"
Erich Fromm, Marx's Concept of Man, New York, 1961, p. 133

"Parental discipline, religious denunciation of bodily pleasure, . . . have all left man overly docile, but secretly in his unconscious unconvinced, and therefore neurotic."  "The bondage of all cultures to their cultural heritage is a neurotic construction." "Neurotic symptoms, with their fixations on perversions and obscenities, demonstrate the refusal of the unconscious essence of our being to acquiesce in the dualism of flesh and spirit, higher and lower."
 Norman O. Brown  Life Against Death

This is more easily done in a group setting. For the sake of social approval, (self preservation) people willingly participate in expressing their resentment toward authority if the environment is one in which such expression is encouraged. When people seek approval from others, (perceived dependence upon others for self preservation), participate in such behavior becomes easier.

"The individual accepts the new system of values and beliefs by accepting belongingness to a group."
Kurt Lewin in Human Relations in Curriculum Change 

"One of the most fascinating aspects of group therapy is that everyone is born again, born together in the group."
Irvine D. Yalom Theory and Practice and Group Psychotherapy

"The individual is emancipated in the social group." 
Norman O. Brown  Life Against Death: The Psychoanalytical Meaning of History

"It is not individualism that fulfills the individual, on the contrary it destroys him. Society is the necessary framework through which freedom and individuality are made realities… only in a socialist society."
Karl Marx

"When the dialectical method destroys the fiction of the immortality of the categories [God's Law over man, parents law over child, etc.] it also destroys their reified character [Fear of God above man, parent above child, etc.] and clears the way to a knowledge of reality [Social Eros.] György Lukács History & Class Consciousness What is Orthodox Marxism? 1919 [brackets added]

"For one class to stand for the whole of society, another must be the class of universal offense and the embodiment of universal limits. A particular social sphere must stand for the notorious crime of the whole society, so that liberation from this sphere appears to be universal liberation. For one class to be the class par excellence of liberation, another class must, on the other hand, be openly the subjugating class." Karl Marx Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right

"If a paradigm is ever to triumph it must gain some first supporters, men who will develop it to the point where hardheaded arguments can be produced and multiplied (which eventuates in) an increasing shift in the distribution of professional allegiances (where upon ) the man who continues to resist after his whole profession has been converted is ipso facto ceased to be a scientist." Thomas Kuhn The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

"Scientific knowledge, like language, is intrinsically the common property of a group or else nothing at all. To understand it we shall need to know the special characteristics of the groups that create and use it." Thomas Kuhn The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

"A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it." Thomas Kuhn quoting Max Planck's famous dictum.

"Change in organization can be derived from the overlapping between play and barrier behavior. To be governed by two strong goals is equivalent to the existence of two conflicting controlling heads within the organism. This should lead to a decrease in degree of hierarchical organization. Also, a certain disorganization should result from the fact that the cognitive-motor system loses to some degree its character of a good medium because of these conflicting heads.  It ceases to be in a state of near equilibrium; the forces under the control of one head have to counteract the forces of the other before they are effective." Child Behavior and Development Chapter XXVI Frustration and Regression Kurt Lewin, McGraw Hill

"Once the earthly family is discovered to be the secret of the heavenly family, the former must be destroyed in theory and in practice."  Karl Marx, Feuerbach Thesis # 4

"A stranger, even if his name were God, who imposes commands upon us must be resisted, he must be killed because nobody can stand him." Paul Tillich source: Leonard F. Wheat Paul Tillich's Dialectical Humanism 1970

"The critique of religion ends in the doctrine that man is the supreme being for man; .... The critique of religion ends with the categorical imperative to overthrow all conditions in which man is a debased, enslaved, neglected, contemptible being." Karl Marx Critique of Hegel's 'Philosophy of Right'

"In the dialogic relation of recognizing oneself in the other, they experience the common ground of their existence." "the revolution that must occur is the reaction of suppressed life, which will visit the causality of fate upon the rulers." [patricide] "Therefore the dialectic of the moral life must repeat itself until the materialist spell that is cast upon the reproduction of social life, the Biblical curse of necessary labor, is broken technologically."   Jürgen Habermas Knowledge & Human Interest, 1968, publ. Polity Press, 1987. Chapter Three: The Idea of the Theory of Knowledge as Social Theory  emphasis added

"Man has only to understand himself, to take himself as the measure of all aspects of life, to judge according to his being, to organise the world in a truly human manner according to the demands of his own nature, and he will have solved the riddle of our time. But there is no other salvation for him, he cannot regain his humanity, his substance, other than by thoroughly overcoming all religious ideas and returning firmly and honestly, not to 'God', but to himself." Frederick Engels The Condition of England A review of Past and Present, by Thomas Carlyle, London, 1843 Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher, 1844

"Prior to therapy the person is prone to ask himself  ‘What would my parents want me to do?' During the process of therapy the individual comes to ask himself ‘What does it mean to me?'" Carl Rogers On Becoming a Person

"As I tried the sociometric system first on the universe and on the concept of God, its first manifesto was a revolutionary religion, a change of the idea of the universe and the idea of God.  The god of Jesus was further extended, the son 'withered away' until nothing was left except the universal creativity of the Godhead and only one commandment: To each according to what he is (an all-inclusive acceptance of the individual 'as he is).'"  J. L Moreno Who Shall Survive? (J. L Moreno, a Marxist, is known as the father of role-playing, a procedure used in all institutions of society today.)

"Self-actualizing people have to a large extent transcended the values of their culture. They are not so much merely Americans as they are world citizens, members of the human species first and foremost." A. H. Maslow The Further Reaches of Human Nature

"I've decided to get into the World Federalists, become pro-UN . . . One World.   A world government with world-shared values . . . Until sovereignty is given up little by little by "nations." This is a realistic combination of the Marxian version and the Humanistic." The Journals of Abraham Maslow, ed. Richard J. Lowry, p. 132. June 1982

". . . should fascism become a powerful force in this country, it would parade under the banners of traditional American democracy. . . ‘rugged individualism'" "...democratic type of relationship, the ability of the subject to appraise his parents objectively, as contrasted with an inclination to put the parents on a very high plane." "The democratic alternative, humanitarianism, (is) the ability to like and dislike, to value and oppose, individuals on the basis of concrete specific experience;" "What is particularly important here is that recognition of one's own individuality is the basis for recognition of the individuality of everyone, and for the democratic concept of the dignity of man." " Only when the process of production is organized on a socialist basis, they argue, can there be true economic democracy, equality or management and labor, and a high national standard of living." Theodor Adorno The Authoritarian Personality.

"In Escape from Freedom, Fromm offered the sado-masochistic character as the core of the authoritarian personality." "The antithesis of the ‘authoritarian' type was called ‘revolutionary.'" "By The Authoritarian Personality ‘revolutionary' had changed to the ‘democratic.'" Martin Jay The Dialectical Imagination 

" ... the central problem of democracy is not the discovery of some optimal solution or standard for ranking incommensurate values; ... The central problem of democracy is instead the formation of a somewhat vaguely defined ‘postconventional' consensus through which everyone affected by a decision must be able to participate in reaching it." Bronner Of Critical Theory and its Theorists

"We may call this new order by the name of democratic socialism but the name does not matter; all that matters is that we establish a rational economic system serving the purposes of the people.  Only in a planned economy in which the whole nation has rationally mastered the economic and social forces can the individual share responsibility and use creative intelligence in his work.  All that matters is that the opportunity for genuine activity be restored to the individual; that the purposes of society and of his own become identical." Erick Fromm Escape from Freedom 

"In a democratic society a patriarchal culture should make us depressed instead of glad; it is an argument against the higher possibilities of human nature, of self actualization." "In our democratic society, any enterprise--any individual--has its obligations to the whole." "Tax credits would be given to the company that helps to improve the whole society, and helps to improve the democracy by helping to create democratic individuals." Abraham Maslow,Maslow on Management,  John Wiley & Sons, Inc, 1998. p. 66 

"Changing a group atmosphere from autocracy toward democracy through a democratic leadership means that the autocratic followers must shift toward a genuine acceptance of the role of democratic followers." "It is of utmost importance that the trainer of democratic leaders establish and hold his position of leadership." "In a democratic process deviation is welcomed as a possible source of improvement in common ways of thinking and acting."  Kenneth Benne Human Relations in Curriculum Change

"Public space becomes for liberals an extension of their private living room."
"Liberals tend to colonize all spaces they are in."
 Elizabeth Powers

"In the process of history man gives birth to himself. He becomes what he potentially is, and he attains what the serpent―the symbol of wisdom and rebellion―promised, and what the patriarchal, jealous God of Adam did not wish: that man would become like God himself." Erick Fromm You shall be as gods: A radical interpretation of the old testament and its tradition 1966

"Citizens are obliged to concern themselves with the upbringing of children, to train them for socially useful work, and to raise them as worthy members of socialist society."  "Socially useful work and its results determine a persons status in society." Articles 66 and 14, "Former" USSR Constitution.

"We will know that our knowledge of the authoritarian character structure is truly scientific when an average authoritarian character will be able to read the information on the subject and the regard his own authoritarian character as undesirable or sick or pathological and will go about trying to get rid of it." "We don't know the answers to the question: What proportion of the population is irreversibly authoritarian?" Abraham Maslow Maslow on Management

ON SPANKING YOUR CHILD

An article in USATODAY 10-09-06 covers the act of spanking and its influence on CEO's

A word of caution. This article is how a liberal would cover the subject of spanking, recognize it but don't give it any support―this is the same way all traditional people and subjects are treated in a  Diaprax world.

Notice that the evidence for spanking is success―"I'm disciplined, detailed and organized,"―but liberal minds can not accept that evidence.

I have yet to meet a liberal who does not act like a sulking child.

 http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/management/2006-10=08-spanking-ceos-usat_x.htm.

http://www.azcentral.com/business/articles/1009Spanked-CEOs-ON.htm

(I could not get their link to work so here are some excerpts.)

Hit with the question: Were you spanked? CEOs say yes

By Del Jones, USA TODAY

"The debate over whether CEOs are born or made remains unresolved, but there is one thing they overwhelmingly have in common.

As children, they were paddled, belted, switched or swatted.

Child psychologists wince at such a finding. They warn that spanking slows mental development and hinders achievement. They say the last thing parents need in the back of their minds is a suggestion or justification that the rod is the road to vision, ruthless drive and other leadership traits common to CEOs....

Is there some connection between corporal punishment and corporate leadership? Most CEOs believe spankings played little or no role in their success but usually could cite important lessons learned. "I'm disciplined, detailed and organized," Haffner says....

A generational thing

University of New Hampshire sociology professor Murray Straus, author of Beating the Devil Out of Them, has been studying corporal punishment since 1969 and says it comes as no surprise that almost every CEO was spanked. They mostly grew up in the 1950s and 1960s.

Although the systematic use of corporal punishment has declined steadily, 90% of toddlers are still spanked at least once, he says, and a 1998 Gallup Poll found that 55% of parents agreed with the statement "A good hard spanking is sometimes necessary."

But Straus says evidence points to corporal punishment as detrimental. If some spanked children grow up to be successful, even billionaires, it's like saying, go ahead and smoke because two-thirds of smokers don't get lung cancer, he said.

"We don't allow any other humans to be legally hit," says Nadine Block, executive director of the Center for Effective Discipline....

Incidences of CEO spankings go well beyond USA TODAY's anecdotal research. Retired General Electric (GE) CEO Jack Welch wrote in his 2001 memoir, Jack: Straight from the Gut, that his mother, Grace, was the disciplinarian in the family. When Welch skipped altar-boy practice, she whacked him with a shoe.

Eve Tahmincioglu interviewed 55 CEOs about their backgrounds for her book From the Sandbox to the Corner Office: Lessons Learned on the Journey to the Top, which went on sale Friday. The book includes chapters on such things as how CEOs attacked their first jobs and how they overcame bad bosses, but Chapter One is called "Parents: Less Carrot, More Stick."

She found that most CEOs had tough disciplinarians as parents....

Turner gives credit to corporal punishment for his success. He says he wasn't a bad or malicious child, but he was difficult and needed to learn self-discipline and to focus on a goal. "I certainly wouldn't have done that if I had grown up with Mary Poppins."

He meets many top executives in his job as an executive recruiter and estimates that 90% or more got spankings. Colleagues at Kaye/Bassman had "crazy discipline" much like his own, and they turned out to be "stable, focused, competitive guys," Turner says.

If that's the case, it happened despite the punishment, not because of it, says Straus, who gave a presentation on corporal punishment last month in Brazil, a country where 19% agree that a good, hard spanking is sometimes necessary vs. 55% in the USA. In Greece, 87% of parents agree, according to Straus. The worldwide median (half are more, half are less) is 52%....

Spanking doesn't make them bad parents

Straus says it comes as no surprise that CEOs who were spanked express great affection for their parents. It's not just bad parents who spank.

"So do very good parents," he says. "They would be even better parents if they didn't spank, and their kids would be doing even better."

© Institution for Authority Research, Dean Gotcher 2006-2015