Too bad I've discovered this post too late to make a meaningful upvote. I agree that more needs to be done to align rewards and quality. I think your proposals make sense and are worth trying. Unlike bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, I don't see decentralization as the central dogma of Steemit. I think empowering quality content creators wherever they are on the globe is far more noble and important. And if it's decentralized, all the better but if it's not I don't see a big problem.
As you so well say, "sorry folks, that's how human society works". In only a few words, what took me a full article to argue, a few months ago ...