Obviously you are looking simply at this one issue and not the big picture.
I'm not in full support of cropping and docking. Honestly I don't care either way. But, if you outlaw things like tail docking, you're giving the government the go-ahead to outlaw other things. You are giving them poorly-asserted control over how we breed and raise our dogs.
Have you not noticed that many of the countries that have banned docking/cropping have also banned Pit Bulls and other "high risk" breeds? Somehow I don't see that as a coincidence. But I digress.
When people push laws like mandatory spay/neuter, no tail docking, no chaining etc, I see that as people giving the government complete control, and I don't want that to happen in the U.S.. I don't LIKE the American government and I do NOT want the morons on Capitol Hill (who can't even SPELL "dog" much less understand someone's reasoning for doing something with their dog) dictating what the people can and can't do with their animals.
To me, it's about more than cropping and docking; it's about the government keeping its filthy nose out of responsible dog owners' business. Instead of targeting responsible owners and breeders, I'd like to see something done about the rampant abuse, the puppymills, the things that TRULY harm the animals and cause them to live a miserable existance.
To be honest, I think a lot of things that people do with dogs are disrespectful to dogs as living, feeling creatures. However, if you look at it, that's how man's relationship with dogs has always been. Humans feed dogs and give them a place to live, and in return many people used the dogs whether they were guardians, shepherds, hunters or retrievers. Now dogs are still used, as companions, as fashion accessories, as broodies in order to make money, as well as being guardians/shepherds/hunters. Also, Dogs get modified like crazy by humans as it is - look at the English Bulldog or the Chihuahua. Dogs get the short end of the stick no matter what. Such is their relationship with humans. Cropping and docking housepets really isn't a huge stretch compared to the history of dogs with humans.
I don't agree with chaining dogs, I don't agree with the majority of the population owning dogs like Pit Bulls, I'm even not in complete agreement with things like ear cropping, but I WILL defend these things when outlawing them is proposed, because the more government involvement there is, the harder it will be to own dogs in the future. I love these animals more than any other, and I want them around forever.
I think Grammy is right, this thread will never end and it's gotten too far away from the original question. I'll bow out, my apologies to the OP.