For that one there is. We all stop using them. If the whales stiil don't vote then our votes become more powerful and we make the same amount.
For the spam problem. We flag the shit as much as we can, until it is no longer profitable to do so.
I wanna be positive too and believe that at some point, if enough of us stop acting like sycophants and just vote they way we would vote if this was facebook, and stopped spamming each other trying to make pennies, then this could be a really good place for both content creators and those who simply like to view the content and socialise with the authors.