Playing AK from Early Position

[mojobluesman]

Are we sure that raising AK from early position is correct even though all the books say you should raise?

For example:

If I raise from UTG before the flop and get called, it's an obvious mistake for my opponents to call without something good (of course, some people do it). If they call and it's a raggy flop, it's hard for me to bet since the range of hands that should call my raise includes a lot of good pairs, and they're happy to have an overpair vs my AK.

But without a raise, I get to play a lot of hands against AJ or KT, or worse in them that would have folded to a raise. If I hit the flop, they will never fold and will call me to the river.

Can we get a discussion going on this that goes beyond "it's a premium value hand so raise it"!

Maybe it's correct against really weak players that will call the raise with crap, but not against better players that won't.