So when you said "Objectivism does not regard, 'acting in one's self-interest is inherently rational,' as an axiom, and you will never find it described as such. It is a derivative concept," you were just taking that on faith, then? Tut, tut - don't you know you're not supposed to do that?
Objectivists do not accept anything as true on the basis of the opinioin of any so-called authority.
Well, then, if you've derived all of this for yourself, and not simply taken it on authority, then it ought to be easy enough to walk me through it, right? "I do not have a case" notwithstanding...
It is not easy to explain. I have spent the better part of three score years studying philosophy, and you think I am going to sum it all up in a brief post to someone who does not want to know the truth. One of the reasons most people never the learn the truth is because they think there is some kind of short-cut to it. There isn't.
I do not care what you believe or think. I am not in this world to convince anyone else of the truth. I enjoy discussing it, especially with the sincere (even when we strongly disagree). I doubt your sincerity. If you were intelligent, and I gave a fig what you think, and I had much thinner skin than I have, I would consider, "if you've derived all of this for yourself, ... then it ought to be easy enough to walk me through it" an insult implying what I derived myself would be simple. In your case, it was good for a laugh. My wife thought so too.
Thanks for the entertainment.
Hank