Ben, good discussion. It is important for folks to realize that choosing good dividend-paying companies is not really a passive activity. Index investing won't get you much in dividends (S&P 500 yield is around 1.5%), so it would likely push people to picking stocks, which is easier said than done and takes a lot of work to do well.

Dividends don't help much as long as you are still working, but they can become much more useful once you leave your day job, so there can be a transition from appreciation-focused stocks to dividend-paying stocks as you get ready to make the jump to (hopefully early) retirement.