I think that it is natural that the developers have this position of power on the system, since after all, they have spent a lot of time dreaming it up, working out the bugs, and implementing it. Dash directly funds the ability of devs to do this, I don't know how the distribution goes on Steem with this particular aspect.
There will of course be competitors to Steem arising, and the ability to adapt and change is very important in a competitive market. The best ideas should win, and the people will vote with their dollars who that is, as well as their comments and now both up and downvotes.
Bitshares has also blockchain based funding for workers. I guess Dan considers it somewhat failure because it wasn't very effective. Opinions of what should be done were too diversified and not enough stuff got done.
I think the Bitshares' system is brilliant and the shareholders are the biggest problem. Too many people with too big stake who didn't share the vision that Dan had for Bitshares.