It is good to see dolphins like you, that really care about the platform and are willing to set an example for other younger users.
The abuse you are talking here is difficult to stop, bid bots will probably end up being the most powerful users on the site. If the witnesses don't care then we cannot do anything, other than leave this platform when its model become unsustainable (if this ever happens...) and go for a better one.
I believe the concept of leveraging blockchain technology to reward content creator is brilliant. For now this idea is steem exclusive, but there will be other platforms. I believe is working on something similar with EOS.
Having said that, I really wish steem to be one of the most successful blobkchains out there, the opportunities we have thanks to this platform are unprecedented in history, so nothing would make me happier than seeing it being massively adopted worldwide.
RE: Powered up / Make Steemit great again / switching focus