"Is this then an injustice to the natural evolution of language if the written "a" is required if most people don't pronounce it anymore?"
I adhere to the tempramental school, myself, dropping the e before the r.
But in response to your other question, since when do we spell English the way it sounds? And according to which regional accent? I've always thought it would be a disservice to the natural evolution of a language to hide its past by making the spelling more acceptable to contemporary sensibilities. I like the fact that English wears its history on its sleeve. Do you realize how few people even know English HAS sleeves?
Of course, I'm being completely self-indulgent here. I LIKE being able to look at a word and see centuries of history. It not only keeps me entertained, but it prevents people from casually asking me questions about words because they're afraid I will actually answer them.
