Good questions. Dan or someone more knowledgable would have to answer that. The reality is that most people don't want the responsibility of maininting the network. If you feel strongly about maintaining the network, then you could be one who sets up a witness. The reason I think the delegation part exists is that it reflects social reality: not everyone wants to secure the network.....
As far as bad actors, they out themselves and if you were to look through the history of Witnesses, you would see that many have shifted position, out of the top 20. People show their true colors, eventually, just like in any social group......this platform with its reputation system actually makes this possible to find out one's true nature and integrity. Look at the example of @timcliff, who came into Steem with nothing. He was not one of the early adopters, and didn't have a Witness position. Through his hard work and labor, constantly improving Steem, and the network, ironing out problems, his work began to be noticed. He's now a top Witness. He is an example of a merit-based economy.....and he continues to positively influence this ecosystem.
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Thanks @stellabelle :)
You may also be interested in reading this post about 'bad actors' if you haven't seen it already:
https://steemit.com/steem/@dantheman/response-to-cosmos-white-paper-s-claims-on-dpos-security