I would say the fact hobbyist have more flexibility was the lesser of the points I was trying to make. Although it's the easier one to address based on the clear legislative history as you have pointed out so well. (Thank you.)
Some of the rules make sense like not flying over people, especially large groups of people, or over cars driving down the freeway, etc. Wow, I wonder how many meetings it took for the FAA to come up with those genius rules? Must have took a lot of brain power.
The fact of the matter is that probably 99.9% of all airspace a commercial pilot might be flying in, there aren't going to be manned aircraft flying below 400 ft, period. That 0.1% accounts for the mile or so at each end of the runway at airports, helipads at hospitals, and take-off/landing areas for seaplanes, and maybe some crop dusting. Oh ya, not only can I fly next to a helipad at the busiest hospital in the county, I can also fly anywhere I want at one of the busiest seaplane takeoff and landing places in the country in a major city. Those guys come in at a steep angle from almost nowhere. I find it ironic, laughable and sad, that probably the most likely situations where an "incident" might occur with another aircraft, those situations do NOT require FAA authorization. Nor does the FAA even require the pilot to notify the hospital or news station with the helipad, nor the Seaplane company. I guess the Part 107 Think Tank didn't spend THAT much time thinking about things. At least not the things that matter most in my opinion.
REALISTICALLY, the drone 90% of you all are flying (Phantoms) are going to do squat to another aircraft and if a jet airplane is flying low enough to ingest your drone, then I'd say the FAA has way bigger problems in that situation than the drone. LOL. Make sure you file that flight plan though so that 737 pilot can make sure he avoids you, you "pilot" you.
The issue, in reality, that is going to be one hundred times more important to the public is PRIVACY/NUISANCE, NOT SAFETY. Most people do not realize (a) the airspace above the ground on their property is not part of their property and is controlled by the FAA, and (b) people have already lost much of their privacy due to the huge increase in the number of security, traffic, and other surveillance devices that are scattered about the community that most people don't notice - including the camera of the phone everyone is carrying! But they WILL notice, and complain about a drone. Note that Los Angeles has strict local privacy laws regarding drones of course, otherwise they would be a FANTASTIC tool for the Paparazzi.
How often do you see a drone flying around in your city that's not yours? I bet very seldom, if ever. I mean actually being out and about in a city and seeing one, not seeing a news clip on TV that you can tell was shot by a drone. But how many of you when flying your drone have been approached by the police either due to curiosity or due to a complaint, or attracted attention good and bad from bystanders? I wouldn't be surprised if it's close to 50% of the time for many people.
Now imagine commercial UAS is becoming more common, at least as common if not more common than Land Surveying services or Roof cleaning and repair services. You start to see drones every day, everywhere. How do you think the public will feel about that? How will local jurisdictions handle it? This may be the more important issue regarding the future of the industry than something like LAANC.