You’ve been given good advice but have been ignoring it.
You’ve been using Dorico for three weeks after 25 years with Finale and have admitted that you’ve been resisting the recommendations. Your insistence on using the mouse (‘those of us who use only the mouse/trackpad for notation entry’) is a bad mistake.
You have however made two ‘feature’ requests (this thread and Dorico Pro 5.1 feature request - User alterable interface) in which you’ve asked for fundamental changes in the software (you’ve said you’re ‘not afraid to speak against a fundamental philosophy of a piece of software’s design’).
You say ‘it would be nice to be able to write notation as well as make it look “right” on the page at the same time’ yet a look at the scores on your web site, reveals nasty collisions (the kind of thing you’d never have to worry about in Dorico) even though the material is far from complex.
Most people coming to Dorico have a brief period of bewilderment (when they’re expecting it to work like the software they’ve used previously) but then realize (often with some delight) how extremely well designed and functional it is (that doesn’t mean it’s perfect or that there isn’t a lot to learn). You won’t particularly enjoy using Dorico or get the best results from it until you’re less arrogant and stubborn. You really should try doing things the Dorico way before you dismiss them.