Mike Isaksen writes:

The pilot licensing process is not restricting you, lack of money is
restricting you.

Both are. I have a strong aversion to useless bureaucracy and credentialism,
and aviation is rife with both. But it is also true that I have no money.

Your desire to (as you said) fly a King Air under IFR in and out of IMC is shared by
almost everyone.

A Baron is very different from a King Air. I'm only interested in the Baron.
If I want to fly something bigger, I'll fly a Boeing jet.

Your distain for recreational VFR flying is however shared by almost no
one in this newsgroup.

Because most people in this newsgroup are hobbyists who like recreational VFR
flying. Many of them probably don't even know the names of all the
instruments on a typical Baron panel.

And many pilots look upon the licensing steps as challenges met and experience
earned.

I look upon them as a waste of time. Some people enjoy jumping through hoops;
I don't.

There is one way that the licensing process is restrictive in a very good
way: It protects the safety of the public. It places legal and functional
hurdles before those with "too much money & too little judgement", although
it leaves wiggle room (Kennedy, Munson, Lidle). And most importantly it
gives the public comfort that the person sitting at the front of the metal
tube has met the minimum standards to pilot them to a safe destination.

Then why are there so many GA accidents?

And you seem to want to bypass all that, stand with the people who have
walked that road, and insist upon being taken as an expert. Not here, not
ever!

I learned long ago that those who feel they must "pay their dues" spend their
entire lives being trampled by those who know better.