Incisive commentary as always! And, as I'm quickly discovering, I'm in furious agreement with you.

There's a lot in this post, but I'd like to pick up one idea and smack it with a hammer: That Steemit, and the Steem blockchain in general is some sort of ruler-less system, and that no one has ultimate control over it.

He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing

Paul Atreides/Muad'Dib was right. And here, we have lots of people who can potentially destroy Steemit, and/or render the blockchain so worthless that it may as well have been destroyed.

Sure, enough minnows could create serious havoc. But really, it's the real heavyweight stakeholders - those whales, who have the power to undo everything that we see here today. The could do this by selling off their Steem at bargain prices and crippling our economy, or they can do this by sitting on their hands when actions that incrementally damage the long-term future of the blockchain are occurring.

My points? The holders of these accounts can change what is happening if they so desire. But also while it's true that the blockchain has decentralised many interactions, power on the Steem blockchain (and power over the Steem blockchain) is in fact highly centralised.