I don't think it is that thought out. Most parents with bratty kids know their kids are brats and they are just hoping to survive. The child becomes the bully, controlling the parents with their behavior. The parents have to submit or risk unpleasantness. The parents want to stand up to the kdis but it costs too much. They allow the kids to go crazy at home and basically run the house. When they get in public, the parents have already surrendered authority and the best they can get is a possible stalemate. A stalemate is a win for them.
My mother, the liberal, thinks our kids are too "free" but won't allow discipline because she "never spanked us". This new mother of mine obviously replaced the mother I had growing up who practically killed a Forsynthia bush on my ass. But CNN tells her that discipline is wrong so she now thinks it is wrong and she never did it.