Do you think the government is taking away our ability to parent our children?

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I was posting in a discussion on spanking and I came to the realization that there are laws all over our country that tell us what we can and cannot do in regards to raising our children. Spanking for instance, many states have laws against it. Our teachers cannot discipline our children like they did in the past and most schools do not paddle or expell children anymore. At what point did it become ok to give the job of raising our children to the children? When I was growing up, my parents spanked. I knew that certain actions would lead to a spanking as such, I didn't tend to do those things. I also knew that certain behaviors in school would lead to various punishments so I behaved myself. I learned to control myself and behave appropriately. Today, kids are so disrespectful to adults in general and especially to their teachers. I have heard of teachers who are actually afraid of their students. This is not acceptable to me. You hear about all the crimes that children today commit and you hear people ask "where were the parents", "it's the parents' fault for not disciplining their child", "what do you expect when you let your child run wild", but when you do try to discipline your child, you are accused of child abuse. We are told to take away privileges, ground them, put them in time out. I remember being a teenager and being grounded. It was no big deal. I had my books, my TV, my radio and the phone. I was too young to have a car, so not going out was really not a big deal. Today's kids have everything and then some in their rooms, is sending them to their rooms really a punishment? I have heard, take away the phone. Ok, so then the child gets on the computer and can still talk to their friends. Take away the computer? They can go to the library and use one. Time out? Ever tried putting a teenager in time out? I just wonder if we are so afraid of abusing our children that we as parents have become afraid of being parents.