Thanks for posting this I have been feeling much the same as well.
The more I find out about the witness thing Im a little disapointed, the voting idea is great and all that, but its simply a way for the rich to get richer and the poor shut out just like the real world. I'd like to contribute real world reasources to mining Steemit but if no one votes for me its just a waste of energy and time.
Its good to the read comments here that it is just in beta, that made me feel a little better about it.
I do like content that is worth reading and have learnt a few things here, so I'll continue to drink the Kool aid for a while....