I have used the CMS in a very serious fashion since 4.0.1, now using 4.2.3 beta,
www.tooraktimes.com.au, and I do not recommend removing it. It has so many options that are useful and the 'Not Published' is a Draft that only appears to the user and admins.
Using a couple of other mods, Change User Profile and Date and CMS or/and Blog RSS feeds you can also gain a bit more, Login as User is also awesome to check user experience.
I love the Drag and Drop pix also.
Cheers
Have you tried your User Group settings or permissions? WHATEVER you do don't change much unless you are sure.