No need for "dark energy", gravity will suffice.

Wallace

Again, this is unfounded non-sense. A plurality of approaches are being pursued and jobs, grants and funding are flowing to all kinds of ideas. I have no idea how you think the system works, but it's nothing like you are suggesting. If anything, it remains easier to get funding for claiming you will pursue some great new idea. Re-iterating the status quo is boring, it doesn't excite the researchers in the field or funding agencies. That being said, even the 'standard' model is such a bare boned sketch at present that there are plenty of interesting things still to be worked out within the context of the 'standard' approach. This is also a very active research area, since it is only by working out the details that we will be able to see if the model eventually stands up to scrutiny or whether significant problems are revealed.

You can rant all you like, but the fact is that well posed alternative explanations get a fair hearing. The whole dark energy idea was once 'alternative', as were other elements you could now call 'standard'. If an alternative theory works it will become the standard. Nobody has any interest or anything to gain by preventing that.