Seeing politics brought to this topic makes me sad. I'm only interested in discussing ASI as a game mechanic, so I'm gonna pretend I didn't see that. Apologies for the length of this post but please bear with me.
To all of you saying numerical stat bonuses are important to represent the natural strengths and weaknesses of a race compared to the rest of the setting - I get it. I used to think that way too and a couple years back I'd be right there with you all defending it. But trying to play without them helped me realize one thing - the whole ability score system is a simplistic and arbitrary abstraction. Its ability to accurately model the in-world reality behind the characters is already tenuous at best. Any effort to see one's Strength score as a precise, non-arbitrary representation of a character's physical strength and athleticism will fall apart once you realize it makes an average human fighter stronger than a bear.
So what're ability bonuses really good for? Why do they make us feel like they make races distinct? Why, because they speak of averages. An orc getting +2 Strength means if you take a random orc and a random human out of a thousand, the orc is more likely to be the stronger one. One would therefore think the strongest orc would be stronger than the strongest human, and yet their Strength scores share the same cap of 20. Why? Because the ability score system is arbitrary that way. It's a game mechanic.
It's also very worth noting that racial ASI isn't even always due to some innate, biological property of the race, unlike what some of you assume if I'm not mistaken. The githyanki, for example, are lanky and emaciated. They receive a +2 Strength bonus despite their scrawny physicality because they are a war-like people and most among them undergo martial training. Therefore, how can we be sure a wood elf's Wisdom bonus is also not cultural and if I want to play a city wood elf raised by a wizard, why doesn't it make sense to start with decent Intelligence instead of Wisdom? To give a fair answer: wood elves are usually wise and one unusual exception shouldn't take away from their identity. But please see things from my viewpoint here - there is no excuse to limit the player playing the exception because of an arbitrary mechanic that only represents the average.
In conclusion I think the solution that would please both those who like racial bonuses and those who don't care much for them is to keep racial bonuses as they are but allow a very costly point-buy to 17 for unaffected abilities.
