This circles back to the OP's point: they're not appropriate to use directly, so we layer a framework on top of them (Lit), and now we're just using another framework with one small piece swapped out.
Except for the hyphens, I don't feel any closer to the platform when I use Lit.
You can inspect a Lit component directly in Chrome, it’s just a custom element. No need for a browser dev extension. You can use this custom element from React or any other JS framework. You can also use this custom element in a server-rendered template, no need for any custom SSR setup. Feel close to the platform yet?
Except for the hyphens, I don't feel any closer to the platform when I use Lit.