All is not lost.

Remember, Steem is not Steemmit.

Your opinion doesn't have to go to the background. You can go to the MSPWaves Town Halls on Discord and speak, you can write posts about the changes, and more importantly comment on the big posts about the changes. You can promote for/against the witnesses you want to be top 20 or not, you can obviously make your witness votes, as well as convincing friends/followers, and of course you could power up more STEEM so your vote is heavier. But yes, it's a "stake wins" kind of thing. That's also why so many communities & collectives form in a place like Steem. You or I may not be able to outvote a whale, or get that kind of attention, but communities of people can get a lot done.