I couldn't disagree more, and I think people are greatly overestimating the power that attack cantrips in 5e actually have. At 1st level, they're like a light crossbow, except with much worse range and without an ability score bonus to damage. Whoopee. And even at higher levels, they can't keep up with the DPR that other classes are capable of, not even close (unless you use haste, but that's an entirely separate issue). The ability to inflict 22 average damage at level 20 at-will is far from overwhelming. It just gives mages a somewhat meaningful thing to do when they're out of daily spells or want to conserve them. I don't know about you, but I don't find sitting there with nothing to contribute to be fun at all.
I don't think we're as far apart as you think, actually. In 3.5Ed, attack cantrips do about as much damage as a sling stone. That's what I'm talking about when I say a slow death/coup de grace- roughly equivalent to a light ranged melee attack.
Now, I haven't been tracking 5Ed too closely, so I can't speak to how/if cantrips in that game scale and compare to such weapons in the game. If they do, I'm cool with that. If they don't...well, that's a potential strike against 5th IMHO.
And as for "doing nothing", that's a discussion of playstyle that could lead to a huge derailment, so I won't pursue it here.