It's about personal responsibility. People around here often come from Bitcoin backgrounds and imagine Hive is "about as decentralized as Bitcoin". Nothing could be further from the truth. The Top 20 witnesses assume personal responsibility for the success of this community and this system. It is a political hierarchy in which the participants have vested power through the witness votes. Unlike the other, classical politicians though, the Hive witnesses do not have to maintain an extravagant lie that they are in it "for the good of the Nation / people / whatever" when in reality they are in it for the power and the money.
The blockchain miracle is that it aligns the interests of the powerful and the meek: our Hive politicians get more power and more money when they act for the good of the community. No need to pretend.