My feelings exactly. I appreciate the way you presented these thoughts so succinctly!
I came to Steemit hoping for exactly this utopia that you speak of, while being sceptical due to the fact that we know this "wild west" springs up instead. And yup, it definitely has.
There's still a hierarchy based on "wealth" and only that wealth can help you to do better for yourself. Such is any form of society, in the end, right?

It has disappointed me that quality posts don't often make it up to trending without the help of the "powerful". It further disappoints me that posts that tend to do well are often posts about Steem or Steemit (and I get why this is, at this point in Steemit's life, but I wouldn't want to go onto FB and read posts ABOUT FB as the most talked about, you know?)

As a final and lesser point, upvoting my own post or comment makes me cringe every time. I hate the idea of it and have never done so on FB or Insta, for example, but out of some form of desperation, I do it here.