[lproven]

> This is less true in C, I think, because it doesn't have the power

It may be, but even so, C is famously unreadable to the extent that it's a common observation that people can't read their own code from a few months earlier.

I think there is an argument -- one that would be very unpopular among Lisp folks, I suspect -- that says that for languages to enforce some forms of simplicity would help their uptake and use.

Most language advocacy revolves around poorly-defined notions of "power" where more power is seen as desirable.

I think Niklaus Wirth was on to something when he took the ideas of Pascal and kept simplifying as well as improving: Modula, Modula-2, Oberon, Oberon 2, and finally Oberon-07. (There are more -- Active Oberon, Zonnon -- but Wirth had retired by then.)