SMTs could fix this I think if we can distinguish using SMT holding how verified an account is by percentage or points or something like that.

The concern I have is what would stop whales from simply rigging the votes and then voting for their pet projects without regard for the revenue it generates for the ecosystem?

If you look for example at corruption in certain industries historically such as construction for example? We know how a construction project can end up costing way more than it should and take way longer than it needs to take etc. When people start voting directly on how to spend money it also is historically known to create infighting, even civil wars happen over these sorts of disputes.

I wish more thought could go into the on-chain governance aspect so that we can really know it's what the community wants and that all factions of the ecosystem are equally represented. Example, content producers are a faction, witnesses are a faction, developers are a faction, and different politics are emerging right now favoring one or another faction.

>"...almost anything should be an improvement."

You must be young.  I'm pretty old, and experience has taught me that things can always get worse.  Indeed, without extreme measures, things going badly are very hard to keep from going worse.  EIP and the SPS funding mechanism aren't radical changes to stake weighting manipulations.  All they do is increase the profitability of manipulating rewards mechanism via substantial stake to extract rewards before that value can raise the price of Steem and create capital gains.