I'm going to agree with a lot of what you said but not entirely. A lot of it is also approach. My brother and I have a completely different approach for instance. He still disciplines his kids with a time out. One of his girls is totally offended by being timed out and it works. The other has a good laugh (in his face) and is rather problematic. If it were me, she have a rather sore behind shortly after the good laugh. They are 9 and 7 (she's the trouble maker).
I've seen a lot of people not wanted to be "too harsh" when punishing kids. I agree in principle, but people also have to show kids they aren't going to be pushovers.
I still call my dad, dad. I still call my father in-law sir and it's just a based on being raised a certain way. I was much bigger that my dad by the age of 13 and I would have never considered giving the man lip or any teacher for that matter.
I do think that absentee parents are a problem. Sometimes that an economic necessity but it still comes down to parents not having raised their kids properly.