That's the entire point, they wanted nodes to have some skin in the game so they would actually pay for a vps or have some infrastructure to keep them online 24/7 if it's too low people will drop constantly. Just do a pooled staking if you can't make the 32 eth requirement.
Pooled staking is great for earning rewards from amounts lower than 32 ETH, but it's not enough for preserving the decentralization of the underlying Blockchain network. This would be the same as PoW where mining is concentrated in the hands of a few. Still, PoW's model has far greater decentralization than PoS itself. The problem here is not the amount of coins required for staking, but rather the price in terms of Fiat. At $180 per coin, you'd need to spend $5,760 in order to maintain/support the Ethereum blockchain for the foreseeable future. Imagine if prices per coin where $1,000 and above. The costs for securing Ethereum would've been enormous, greatly diminishing the decentralization of the Blockchain.
With Pooled Staking, only pool operators will be able to secure the ETH blockchain. This gives the power in the hands of a few, increasing the centralization of the network. Most people only care about the rewards rather than the long-term stability and censorship-resistance of a cryptocurrency. They're only in it for the money than anything else. Only a few are vigilant taking their efforts to protect decentralization at all costs.
Nonetheless, while 32 ETH looks like a hefty sum in terms of USD, it's still cheaper than running a DASH masternode. People have different Blockchains to choose from (like Ethereum Classic) in case they're not comfortable with Ethereum itself. In this world of diversity, there's a cryptocurrency for everyone. Just my thoughts
