The Steem Witness voting system certainly could do with some tweaking, all you need to do is look at the number of long shut down Witnesses still ranking in the top 100 because when they shut down their voters did not remove their vote for them.
Combine that with accounts that lost log in keys, became inactive for whatever reason - it all adds up. DPOS is about individuals voting for Witnesses that benefit them and further the progress of Steem using their stake - but if they are inactive and taking no interest in the blockchain any more - how can they know the Witnesses they voted for two or one years ago are still giving they benefits they voted for back then?
Definitely agree with what you said here.
It is clear that with all the changes that we have seen to date, plus the changes that are being discussed that the dynamics of Steem are such that a person really needs to dedicate a lot of their time to it all so as to keep up with everything that is relevant to our ecosystem.
If we just take into account the ideas of forming an independent foundation that has as one of its key goals to promote Steem to potential investors and to help existing investors thrive to their maximum capacities. It is safe to state that such an endeavour is impossible with the flaw I have spelled out in the current witness (governance) voting model which inevitably leads to an outright dictatorship.
Needless to say, that we have already seen some of what I am touching on in this comment when it comes to evenly spreading out the input of assets to such endeavours.
"The Untouchables" is probably the nicest way of putting it, especially when it concerns their part of the pot!