Steem could hard fork to minimize whale’s power and have a better distribution of the steem token trough a more horizontal voting system.
Sorry I believe the bolded is an impossible option.
The only way would be to change from voting out of a shared pool of debasement to tipping from individual wallets, which is not a viable model.
Sorry IMO Steem is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
And the rich are now growing richer on Steem.