Clojure gives you the option to run the compiler at runtime, so that's what people normally do. However, you can also run the compiler at compile time. Right?

For people who want type checking, they can opt to write Clojure in this defprotocol everywhere style, and turn on AOT. Then they basically get the same thing as what Java gives them.

As to example of libraries that are defprotocols everywhere, you should look at any of the low level performance minded libraries in the Clojure ecosystem, they are either written in this defprotocols everywhere style, such as nippy, neanderthal, dtype-next, and so on, or mostly in Java, such as http-kit, fast-edn, etc. I noticed this phenomenon, because my own libraries, editscript and datalevin, are written in this way. I take comfort that my fellow performance minded library authors are doing the same. Finally, isn't Clojurescript entirely driven by protocols?

So really, there are two kind of Clojure programmers. One type writes application code or high level libraries, and they write normal Clojure code all the time. However, there are also those who write primarily low level library code, which are used by the first camp, and their code is full of defprotocol and deftypes. So defprotocol everywhere is not anti-pattern. It's anti-pattern only in the mind of the first camp of programmers, and that's a narrow minded way of looking at things. Even the first version of Clojure Programming book by the core team members, are written in a way that's full of defrecord. Remember?

This "everything is a map" orthodoxy is turning people away from Clojure. Just let people write the code that suits their own needs. We can use more people who are pragmatic instead of dogmatic in the Clojure world. If you trust Rich Hickey's judgment, then you should trust him put in the features Clojure has for good reasons. Macros and protocols are part of the Clojure language, and you should be using them when the use case calls for them. Stop the "anti-pattern" nonsense.