Holding the door for the person behind me benefits the person behind me, which is why I do it. What I'm asking is precisely what benefit voting has for anyone--certainly not what benefit it has for myself. Neither of your points address this in any way I can see, although I get the impression you believe they do and would appreciate if you expanded on them.

Also note that I'm not concluding that it is false that I should vote. I spent more time in my comment puzzling over how exactly I should vote--which I think is clearly not as straightforward as "vote for the candidate I would prefer wins", since my probability of changing that is so much smaller than say changing the winner of the popular vote.

I believe a country that is actively engaged in the political process is good for all Americans, especially my children who will inherit my generation's screw-ups.

I believe a country where 30% of people vote is worse than one where 60% of people vote, and that bad politicians are held less accountable. In order for a higher turnout to happen, then lots of people like me need to vote, even if their vote doesn't do much.

Whether I hold the door for the person behind me doesn't really affect my life. It might make me feel good about myself for a bit (like voting) and it may help a stranger a bit. Voting is maybe less directly helpful, but it's helpful to millions of strangers.

Also, my vote has way more power down-ballot, as others have said.

The first half of your comment is basically where I was going when I said "[My vote] increases turnout, which probably increases confidence in our democracy." I probably should have rephrased that.

I actually agree that I should vote, and this is the primary reason why. But I'm more caught up on how I should vote.