We keep on trying something different, however: multiple staging, solid strap-on boosters, tow ropes, mid-air refueling, wings, hydrogen-oxygen fuel, scramjets, giant factories to achieve scales of economy. And did I forget, helicopter rotors?
I am convinced that this level of blindness on the part of the entire aerospace community (exception Hunter, Stine, and me) is because God doesn't want us to go into space yet. If you're an atheist, substitute 'Advanced Alien Civilization with Stealth Mother Ship in Orbit' for God. But same thing. There's no way that six billion human beings could be more aversive to the simple, direct approach. Their minds must be clouded by something.
The committees. You know what happens with committees. The one person who really knows how to get the job done has to sit and listen to a bunch of other people with other agendas. Then he gets outvoted. It comes down to committees because the funding comes from somewhere else not under the control of the one person. Program administrators then take over. They, too, don't know how to get the job done, but they sure know how to administer the project. The one person who knows how to get the job done sometimes is allowed to get the job done, but usually gets marginalized and eventually wanders off before he is booted out. So there's the project, and there's the funding, and the original objective will not be accomplished.