Why do I have to specify all parameters for wp_enqueue_script to load my jquery in the footer? [closed]

Because that is the signature of that particular function. If you don’t like it, you can always use a wrapper function like the one below.

function wpse61783_enqueue_script( $handle, $src ) {
    wp_enqueue_script( $handle, $src, array(), '', true );
}

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