Do you have recovery code printed out? Do you carry them with you? If you do then what's the difference between this and a password?

The difference compared to a password is that these recovery codes are single use, used only in exceptional cases and physically airgapped. On the other hand my password is multi use, is used daily by me and in the event of a breach will be exposed to the attacker.

I will know if someone steals my recovery codes. I'll have no idea if someone gains knowledge of my password though.

2FA protects you from someone getting access to a leaked password. They still can’t connect even with user and password, without doing a very elaborate hack. That’s a huge benefit.

No. I agree the MFA is big improvement and I use it for many of my accounts, but I still don't want you forcing me to do something "for my own good".

Make it the default or show me scary warnings, but still give me the option to make my own decision in the end. Sometimes, it's okay for convenience to take precedence over security, and the user is the only one who should make that determination.