The governance mechanism for this exists, but the Steemit Inc accounts simply has a stake large enough that it doesn't need to involve many smaller stakeholders in the process to make decisions. This is similar to the way a majority party doesn't have to involve other parties in a government. Although even with their majority stake, they still had trouble getting their agenda through on multiple occasions.
As their stake diminishes they will have to involve more people in this process. But I do think we should be doing more things along the lines of stakeholder polls on protocol upgrades, encouraging users to see themselves as stakeholders and be involved in the process.
I agree. I think it is tricky though.
One of the problems with the big DAO last year was that having so many people involved and decentralising decisions to such a great degree lead to a kind of paralysis.
Any DAOs that follow that kind of model will need to create mechanisms to get round that I think.
In some situations having an organisation or a set of people that have the final say can expedite matters and may be more efficient - that is particularly important when a crisis or emergency occurs.
I think over time Steem/Steemit will find the right balance.