I agree, a fresh outside perspective is valuable as long as it's an informed opinion.

stake holders with vested interest

Again, the investors create all the value here. It's not so much the status quo as how economics work.

I don't believe mining or the benefit of miners are the end goal of Steem

Do you get that perspective from the whitepaper or is that just your own opinion or...? Most cryptocurrencies (Steem included) rely on a financial incentive model for success. If the tokens don't have tangible value for the token holders, they don't do well. Steem has zero fee transfers and has done away with miners, but not with the financial incentives which give Steem value. Self voting may be just one of those incentives.

There are already enough incentives for people to want to buy SP.

Curation rewards are certainly one, but some say it's not enough. The comment I linked to before mentioned reasons why self voting could be beneficial for a whale. Do you have thoughts on that?

The argument that STEEM will loose value and just be another coin if self voting on comment were banned

That was not my argument. I said removing all financial motivations would so do and self voting could be seen as one of many financial motivations to hold Steem Power.

I do see how many really don't like the concept of self voting, but based on sybil attack concerns, people could just create other accounts and vote themselves up that way so there is no real way to stop it or ban it without just making it much less obvious who is doing it. If people think it's bad to do, they can withhold their vote from that author in protest.