Well, you're using query parameters, but I think I understand what you mean.
What I would do is write a stored procedure that takes whatever parameters, then I'd write PG SQL to generate bindings to that procedure for whatever language you're using (Golang here). I might write the bindings by hand if it's not a lot of work, but definitely would write a little compiler if it's a tone of work. That way you can get type-safety.
So, you'd do something like:
CREATE VIEW IF NOT EXISTS things AS ...;
CREATE TRIGGER IF NOT EXISTS create_thing
INSTEAD OF INSERT ON things
FOR EACH ROW
BEGIN
...
END;
INSERT INTO things (...)
VALUES (...), ...;
Now, with SQLite3 you don't get reflection via SQL, like you do in PG via the `pg_catalog` schema, but you do get reflection via the API. Also, because it's SQLite3, you don't get strong typing, and you get very few types, so even with reflection via the API, generating type-safe stub functions to invoke the "stored procedure" is not exactly easy or possible.
FYI, SQLite3 is Turing-complete. You can loop via recursive triggers. And you can do conditionals via `WHERE` clauses on the statements in your trigger bodies (and also via `OR IGNORE` and such).
EDIT: I made a post of this: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31913062
I don't know if Go's SQLite support in turn supports named parameters, but if it does, then that would likely help considerably with readability.
I don't think you are doing anything wrong from a noobies opinion.