There are a couple of indicators that determine the longevity of a cryptocurrency in the long run. Is Steem going to be one that lasts?

Does it have a working product?

Yes. Steem has several working products that the general public are free to participate in at no cost to them. The Steem platform is built upon Graphene, (if you're familiar with BitShares, you would know. This technology is able to scale to 10,000 transactions per second, with each block being three seconds, it's one of the fastest blockchains in the world. Despite being an inflationary cryptocurrency in nature, upon mass adoption, I do believe that the value that the technology provides us with will surpass the dilution of value as a result of the nature of the rewards pool.

Are people spreading the word

Yes. Steem is being talked about, and Steemit, the blogging platform built on top of the Steem blockchain is attracting many content creators from other platforms simply because it is a better platform. The payouts, provided you create quality content are far greater than Youtube Adsense revenue. Users are incentivised to create quality content and are not rewarded on the basis of 'number of views'. Instead, how much they are rewarded is based on the number of upvotes and the 'Steem power' (influence, or even hash rate) of those supporting your content. If there's a better solution to a problem, it's only a matter of time that the word gets spread. And once the general public hears about it, it's pretty obvious what mass adoption is going to entail.

I'm only earning pennies on my posts

Don't be discouraged. You're an early adopter of cryptocurrencies, a technology that will revolutionalise the way we manage stores of value, make transactions and share ideas and information. I believe the underlying technologies are far superior to the current fiat solutions to storing of value, especially since the USD was detached from the gold standard. We have many nations that are victims of hyperinflation, and it is impossible to save money, as their paychecks are diluted faster than they can spend it.

Who will win this tug of war

Cryptocurrency is a superior solution. Government regulations can hinder this revolution. Government regulations will not prevent this revolution. This is a massive opportunity to buy. When mass adoption of the blockchain happens, it'll be too late and the opportunity will be no more in a blink of an eye. Invest in your Steem Power (as I said, this is essentially your hash rate), invest in the future of Steem.