I'm with you that node runners should have the ability to use filters if they want. But the issue of spam filling up the block chain is massively overblown.
Discussion
Also the idea that Bitcoin Core is compromised somehow which is what Kratter has implied many times is ridiculous. Luke just takes Core and adds a few filters, it isn't as if he's writing a node from scratch.
So we are on the same line with the power the node runners should have over their mempool. I will definitively use the filters and try to get only transactions into my mempool, with the usecase of Bitcoin as money. I do not want to host jpgs, runes or dumb messages in the OP_RETURN field on my hard drive.
Are BRC-20-Token responsible for the UTXO bloat? What started 04-2023? I do not think that the issue of spam filling up the blockchain is massively overblown. The UTXO count doubled from Q2/23 to Q2/24! A part of the node's RAM has to be used for this non-monetary use of the blockchain.