Why does the protocol want this [6% base inflation] to begin with?

The chain was originally conceived as an intentionally inflationary economy rather than a fixed (or very low inflation) supply model as with other cryptocoins. The idea being that the inflation would be spent to directly support the infrastructure (witnesses), attract more users, build bigger communities, and so forth. Opinions probably differ has to how that has worked out but it clearly hasn't been a huge success.

Whether that means it should be completely revamped is probably going to be highly controversial.