All platforms could share the same syntax->s expression desugaring code, so I'm not sure why that would matter. The difference Clojure has is that the core lan

All platforms could share the same syntax->s expression desugaring code, so I'm not sure why that would matter. The difference Clojure has is that the core language is tiny, but you could do this with an alternative syntax as well. You'd just need macro support, even if they're more clumsy to write. (I literally have an editor open working on a Clojure compiler as I write this, so I don't disagree with your premise).