They cannot honestly and openly admit "yes we want to change Bitcoin from Satoshi's peer to peer cash into a settlement network" because it would be so radical that it would have a high probability of getting backlash from the community. Therefore, they have opted to be sneaky about it.
How do you maintain the promise of so called "peer to peer cash" to scale globally without centralizing the network due huge blocks that people cannot afford to run at home, therefore not anymore peer to peer cash but peer to corporation to peer transaction? (aka what we have already in the current baking system)
Satoshi's vision was that eventually, when the network gets large, only miners need to run full nodes. Ordinary users can use SPV clients.
As the network gets larger, running a full node will become more expensive, but please realize that:
A) part of that cost will be offset by the natural decline in processing and bandwidth costs.
and...
B) By that time, Bitcoin network will be so big that it will still be very decentralized even if the cost barriers to mining increase.
You can have a different opinion than Satoshi, but I find it very suspicious that those who do aren't forthright about it.
Less onchain scaling doesn't have to mean that Bitcoin becomes a "settlement network".
What they'd prefer is limited onchain scaing -
This is what they want you to believe, but the fact they are unwilling to compromise AT ALL, even if the face of quickly rising fees, terrible congestion, and frightening losses of marketshare...should tell you something. Actions speak louder than words.