We constantly hear from other users how whales are abusing the platform and yadda yadda. The thing I think many users forget that this is a blockchain. Which means like any other blockchains, an individual can create multiple wallet addresses and that's what accounts on Steem are... wallets.
Like any other blockchain, early adopters, individuals or a group that has capital can accumulate many tokens from investments.
Other tokens are dominated by those that have the capital and resources to run mining farms or simply invest. Many people organize together to increase their holdings to accumulate more tokens and gain influence and power in whatever blockchain ecosystem they are in. Which is what we see with exchanges, business vendors, and other platforms do. They are working together with other individuals or what some of you call it "colluding" to gain an advantage in a competitive, free market.
When users vote on content, their influence over the distribution of the rewards pool is directly proportional to the amount of SP that they have. Users with more SP have more influence on the distribution of rewards. This means that SP is an access token that grants its holders exclusive powers within the Steem platform.
If you don't agree with how things are on this platform, then invest in STEEM so you will have more influence on this platform. Otherwise, purpose solutions or improvements rather than bitching and moaning. "Money Talks".
Steem is not YOUR platform. It has a consensus algorithm where the community comes to an agreement on changes to the Steem blockchain.
Conceptually, the consensus algorithm adopted by Steem is similar to the consensus algorithm adopted by companies throughout the world. People with a vested interest in the future value of Steem vote to select individuals responsible for including testimony in the public record. Voting is weighted proportional to each individual's vested interest.
So if there are things you don't like or agree with on this platform then perhaps build your own. There is nothing stopping anyone from developing their own platform. The code is open source.
I constantly hear "Steemit should add this" or "Steemit needs that". Steemit, inc has their own strategy and is working at their own pace. If you disagree and want a particular feature right now, then go build it.
Steem is not only Steemit.com. We should want different frontends and other platforms using the Steem blockchain and not just Steemit.com. Not everyone is a blogger or uses social media and we shouldn't limit ourselves to just one website. 
"I don't want to continue just to do Steemit.com and continue just getting ahead of everyone else. I actually want other people to show up and start doing the same thing because this has to be an internet-wide revolution, not just a single site. We need everybody to have the power to do this."
https://steemit.com/steem/@ned/smart-media-tokens-why-we-re-doing-it-video
It's one thing to share opinions and give constructive criticism but when there are users that are constantly trying to complain about things on the platform when they don't even understand what's going on, it just sounds like a bunch of crybabies. Luckily, we have a "Mute" button...
