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Can you post screenshots of what you see? Obviously you do not have to delete the catalog to make further edits. You should simply be able to continue making edits. Embed the screenshot(s) using this button 
Every time I want to re-edit an image that I've already edited, I have to delete the catalog file so that Her Highness will allow me to re-edit.
Ask yourself a quick question: how often do you see other people complaining about this?
Answer: you don't. You can edit and re-edit any file in Lr as often as you want, and Lr won't have a single thing to say about it.
So that means there's something about your local set-up, or how you're using Lr, that's the problem.
It would help if you told us what actually happens when you try and re-edit a file - your complaint is pretty light on actual useful detail...
After the file has been exported I cannot edit it again.
Well you can, but you'd have to reimport it, as it's a new file to LightRoom's catalogue.
But why would you even want to do that?
All of the editing decisions applied to the original export are saved to the database, and will be there for you to build on if you re-edit the original RAW. You can even choose to overwrite the earlier export with the subsequent one, if you only want one "live" copy of the output file.
That's kinda the point of LightRoom, and non-destructive RAW processing in general.
Every time I want to re-edit an image that I've already edited, I have to delete the catalog file so that Her Highness will allow me to re-edit.
By @Takeone.Digital
The way it's intended to be used is that you don’t have to delete anything, instead you open the same catalog, select the same original, switch into the Develop module, and simply continue on with more edits and export the edited copy again.
Are you using a different workflow, like importing, editing, exporting, and (this would be unusual and not recommended) deleting the original from the catalog, leaving you with only the exported copy?
Deleting the catalog is a very unusual step that just about no one else does, so that suggests the application is not being used in the way it was designed.
If used as intended in a nondestructive workflow, editing and re-editing in Lightroom Classic is extremely flexible and productive. For example, in the Develop module, all your previous edits for a specific photo are available in the History panel so that even if you close the application and then re-open it a week later, you can always add to the same image’s earlier edits, or roll back/reset to any previous edit state including before you started editing.
it's greyed out in DEV mode if the image has been exported.
By @Takeone.Digital
Or- you can't swich to DEV if to be precise.
If there is a problem switching to the Develop module or the original is not available, that is something we might help troubleshoot. But in general, that is not something that normally happens to most people.
What normally happens, with thousands of Lightroom Classic users including working professionals, is that we can freely switch back between modules and it doesn’t depend on whether the image has been exported. If it’s happening to you, we need to figure out what is different about how you are using it.
For example, one possible cause of Develop not being available is that the file you want to edit is no longer at the same folder location or filename as it was when you last edited it. Lightroom Classic works very similarly to a video editor or page layout application (Adobe or non-Adobe) in that it references the original file’s filename and location. We can check that.
When viewing the image thumbnail in the Grid or Filmstrip, do you see an exclamation point icon [!] on the image’s thumbnail? If so, then the original image is not found. Click that icon to show Lightroom Classic where it is now, and Develop should become available. Does that help?
Golding, I really appreciate the patience and detailed answers.
The problem looks like this: on the gallery screen, all images appear from the library from which I have already edited and exported photos. The photos I have already edited and exported are grayed out. They cannot be clicked on or marked for import. The images that have not been exported appear "as usual". I can edit in DEV the clickble "usuall" images only. I'll come back to this thread or start a new one with screenshots when the problem resurfaces. I trust Adobe that it will indeed appear.
By @Takeone.Digital
Sounds like you are trying to import photos again that are already in the catalog. That is not how Lightroom works and so Lightroom does not allow that. If you are unwilling to learn how a professional grade application like Lightroom works, then don't blame Adobe for writing such an application but find some simple image editor that you understand right from the start. Or accept that Lightroom Classic does indeed have a learning curve. And maybe get the free eBook at https://www.lightroomqueen.com to start learning.
It's a bit like blaming the messenger...
It really isn't. You're complaining about Lr not doing what you expect it to do - which it isn't doing because it's not designed to do that.
In other words - user error.
Now - it might not be that, but you've written nothing that rules it out: and the first step in doing that is you demonstrating that you understand how Lr is supposed to work.
As you like car analogies - you're complaining that you've rented a car abroad and it flatly refuses to take off and fly you to your destination of choice.
In the one you use, you'd get the same reply you've been given here several times: doesn't matter that it's not how you expect, that's how it's designed to work, and you need to learn how to use it.
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