The way to "change" their view, is to join the AMA and write letters to the elected officials. Tell them what you want done.
Although, the reality is they're reacting more to the pressures from outside influences. Not just the full scale aircraft guys, but the large UAV businesses that want to corner the market.
Raytheon, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, are all working with UAV programs. If there's going to be a commercial market, for police, EMS, GIS, surveys, etc, they're going to want to be the major players. If the rules are such that only their products will meet the legal demands, then your small mom and pop business, that's working with a Bixler, or a home made multicopter just aren't going to be able to get a finger hold.
Full scale pilots have something to worry about too. It's been mentioned that the days of radio black outs and such are all int he past. I don't think so. Otherwise the Iranians would not have that US military UAV they keep showing off. You're still going to have people who "cheap out" on their gear, assemble it incorrectly, damage it from crashes, and so on. Fail safes, and RTH systems can fail, they can be programed wrong, or can malfunction.
As to regulations, in a perfect world, everyone used common sense. There would be no need for rules to fall back on in the event of trying to determine fault, and the punishment that should follow if there's property damage, injury, or loss of life due to carelessness in the handling of these "toys".