To some extent I agree with you about the car keys. But not entirely, as I think it's a lot more elusive in this context. There was supposed to be no police saying what is right or wrong - that's the notion behind smart contracts. That way "theft" as such can't really take place - it's a coding error. The miners vote with their hashing power if a fork is proposed, and that's about it. The contracts are just code, and since Etehreum is Turing complete, everything that can be coded and ran is legal.
On the other hand I can totally see the drama and potential tragic consequences of such a radical approach.
Still the world needs clean, tough, incorruptible technology more than ever, with all the crony legislation being pushed and privilaged agendas corrupting the planet.
It also certainly sucks that the DAO money most likely came from most progressive and rebellious investors standing up to the system. And they were the first ones to get smoked by something they believed in. That's ironic and tragic at the same time, but as they say, revolutions devour their children.
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I understand what your saying, but I think you may be confusing the act of stealing with what the law says about it, whether that law is traditional law, or the "law of code". If you take something from someone and that person did not give you permission, that it stealing. That definition is independent of law. The act of stealing predates any code of laws. Even if you go as far back as the old testament, the statement said "thou shall not steal". The act of stealing was recognized before any laws or police did anything about it.
My point is this. What happened with the DAO was stealing, but it was not illegal within the context of "The Code is The Law" viewpoint. We are so used to thinking of stealing as being illegal, that we tend to lump the two together. It is conceivable that we could have a society that chooses not to make stealing illegal. That is one of the radical consequences that you may be referring to above.