From the very beginning, I always saw the Lightning layer as a replacement for the bank layer in the fiat system. Banks can and should have selected, trusted relationships with each other. Operating a Lightning node, I have always been frustrated with the assumption that a node operator wants to network willy nilly in a trustless world. I want to choose my channels wisely, not entirely trustlessly, and in my opinion the tooling for that is poor at present, (although admittedly I haven't spent enough time trying all available tools).

Some argue this semi-trust tends toward centralization, but the counterargument is that anyone can start up a Lightning node to fill in the gap anytime one feels like centralization is getting out of control. We still have complete freedom.