Why doesn't SteemIt allow me to Vote?

Hi,

I have been on SteemIt for a little while now. I powered down and now my vote is deemed worthless:

From my perspective, removing my ability to vote just disincentives me to log in as I can no longer do the SteemIt equivalent of 'like' posts that my friends have made. I might as well just read the posts and toddle off on my way without logging in. This will grow into a habit. And makes SteemIt more like any other blogging engine from the view of someone not creating content (maybe that is the goal of this project and I have over estimated the 'social aspirations of this platform')

And yet I am someone who will create good content again at some point in the future when my life is less busy. I write various articles, post new music from my SoundCloud account, and post Drone videos from my YouTube account. It feels like I am being punished for taking out the STEEM that I've earned from making content in the past.

I would have thought it would be better to allow $0 votes and acknowledge that opinion has value to people in it's own right even if it doesn't have a financial value attached.

I don't really understand what the benefit is to denying me a vote? Can anyone shed some light on this for me.

I know accounts are seeded with some STEEM Power so they can vote. It seems very silly to have it this way round. If you are giving a nominal amount of Steem just so n00bs can vote, it all feels very hacky and adhoc - when you could simply allow $0 votes and not pay that nominal amount of STEEM into people's accounts.

I would love someone to explain this to me in logic that makes sense.