Is spanking "misbehaving" or misbehaving toddlers ok, if not why not?

It’s not ok to hit anyone, ever. It’s abuse, period.

I never hit my kids. Hitting kids teaches them it is okay and acceptable to hit others.

Sure. How about esp. the toddlers part? Is it worse to spank toddlers than the older children?

@flo, yes, hitting a toddler is more egregious, because the younger child has no concept that they are “misbehaving”; toddlers are exploring their world.

Oh, it’s perfectly OK to spank children.
“But these things must be done DELICATELY.”
When the child is old enough to know the difference between right and wrong, but NO OLDER*, and they do something they know is wrong, you swat them once with a rolled up newspaper hard enough so that the paper makes a loud “POP” and scares them, but not so hard as to hurt the child. When the child gets enough swats to realize that the paper doesn’t hurt, you stop spanking permanently. By this time you will have trained the child to obey your commands about what is right and what is wrong, and earned the child’s respect.
(*If you wait until they’re too old, this method won’t work and then you’re screwed!)

When you “spank” a child, you are using force.
And force, my friends, is violence; the supreme authority from which all other authorities are derived.
It is imperative to teach newly made humans, that violence is the only consistent way to enforce your will.

This shouldn’t be needed to know you shouldn’t hit kids, but just in case: this is relevant and was released today.