Exactly! The freedom of a decentralized economic system lends itself to oligarchy as there is no higher authority to break up concentrations of wealth and power.
I suppose here though there is the company and development team who can simply change the system's rules so it's not set in stone. . . but then again it's not truly decentralized.
That's where governance protocols come in to "elect" change. The only problem I have with Steem is that other teams are likely eyeing what is happening on Steem and considering how to make an altogether different platform.
I suppose that's what the "witnesses" are for? I still have no idea how that all works. Pretty damn new.