Having root access all the time is dangerous and even on Linux you don't have root access all the time. You can customize your Android, get rid of trackers and take fine-grained control over what apps are allowed to do without root. You can disable your mic and camera, you can deny apps to have any internet access, you can use offline open-source keyboards, offline and opensource speech to text and reverse, you can verify and sideload your apps. What do you want more?
Discussion
They have many more permissions than what the permissions list shows you. Many apps for example can read your device IDs or start at boot.
I know this specific case wouldn’t apply to a degoogled phone, but Google Speech Synthesis was getting mic access despite the permission being denied. I know because my permission killer would randomly tell me the app gained the permission and ask if I wanted to revoke it. The mic was turned off and the permission was denied in settings. The fact that that app could do it, made me suspicious of Android as a whole. If I can’t install apps like Bouncer, I would have no way of knowing I can trust Graphene.
And the way my Pixel handles root is the same as Linux. On Linux, I have to type my password whenever SU is needed. On my pixel, I have to do biometric authentication every time SU is requested. The only security flaw is that I leave the bootloader unlocked in case I brick it
Additionally, you can hide root access in magisk. Most apps on my Pixel have no idea they’re on a rooted device.