I think the question you raised is vital for the future of Steem. Currently Steem DAO is something like a suitcase without a handle. Potentially, this is a ticket to continuous improvement and success, but we do not know how to use it. Instead of funding good and necessary projects, Steem DAO becomes a threat. Having temporarily blocked access to these funds, everyone calmed down. But this is not a solution to the problem, but its freezing. This is something like a frozen conflict in geopolitics. The absolute majority believes that this is the best solution, because people do not die. But this is a time bomb, which, when it explodes, takes ten times more lives.

I used to believe that Steem DAO was the panacea for blockchain prosperity. But after seeing how money was spent on projects of questionable value at Hive, I changed my mind.

Who has sufficient competence to determine that the project has sufficient potential to be funded? Decentralization is good, but public opinion is easy to manipulate. Let's imagine that a certain project is under consideration. Suddenly, @remlaps says he sees potential risks in it, but SC01 assures that everything is fine. Who will most people listen to?

The management system of Steem is an oligarchy. The richer you are, the more important your vote is. There is nothing to prevent some influential user from using the Steem DAO for their own purposes.

The management model you propose has the same flaws as in real life in large corporations. If in the USA, the process of appointing top management is probably more transparent and its activities can be somehow controlled, then in countries like Ukraine, top management is a superior race that uses resources as it pleases.

The issue with Steem DAO needs to be resolved. It seems to me that everyone in Steem is used to postponing questions for later, maybe someday it will be resolved by itself. Money that does not work has no value. Perhaps the solution to this issue can be in the financial plane. As long as there are no projects that the community wants to fund, these funds can be made to work without spending them. The Steem DAO could be something like the central bank of Steem, performing the function of smoothing out sharp price spikes. Perhaps it would be possible to develop some mechanism so that at the expense of Steem DAO resources you can get significant delegations for your projects or something like that. There are many options.

After all, it is possible to burn some of the funds to reduce the potential attractiveness of the Steem DAO for abuse.