Not sure I agree that non-publicly-routable addresses are a hack. The ability to run your own DNS server and having a firewall are pretty elegant components of most networks.
That being said, it very well maybe time to find a better alternative :).
Firewalls have their place but should not be conflated with routing; the two are separate, and treating them as the same can lead to confusion and broken security.
As for DNS, it has a very elegant hierarchical delegation system, such that organizations can control their own while also ensuring that all the world's DNS servers give consistent answers (and if you need short names for your internal systems on your own network, that's what search paths are for).
That being said, it very well maybe time to find a better alternative :).