Back about 10 years ago, Paul tried to start the Sport Aviation Association. It's purpose seemed to address almost all of the criticisms brought up here. It was supposed to promote flying and building for the fun and education of it. It was supposed to have very little of the business, politics and general extra headaches that comes with the huge organization.
Unfortunately, it didn't reach critical mass to keep it going. You can find information on it over at the Wayback Machine at www.archive.org. Search for www.sportaviation.org, and select some older versions before that domain was repurposed.
Maybe there's now enough interest to try again.