What if we give the free reign and let users work on outshining themselves without using labels as leverage. Just like in the old steem.

That would be really cool! Yes, that would be the "Old Steem" (where of course there were also cheaters, but they mostly kept to themselves): The community decides what's popular. What's not popular or not of interest goes down.
However, this requires a reading community. A community that engages with the contributions of others on its own and doesn't just chase after the high votes. Yes, it is! These users still exist, but there are fewer and fewer of us.
In fact, I also believe that the (temporary) discontinuation of all initiatives is the only correct solution. And all "campaigns" outside of Steem that advertise with the fast coin must be discontinued. I already made these suggestions over two years ago. As long as the focus is on sc votes (even the small ones), we will continue to go round in circles. And our circles are slow - so slow that they will be overtaken very quickly by the smarter scammers.