At best, ‘objectivism’ is middle brow amerikan schlock gussied out to sound philosophical. It’s the linguistic equivalent to putting lipstick on a pig.
At worst, it’s a scam. Neither Rand nor any of her inner circle of PhD accredited philosophers mean a word that they write. Rather, for them, it’s a cash-cow, much as an MD might sell tv snake oil.
half-educated rubes buy into this because it permits them the opportunity to say something ‘philosophical’ without having actually read it.
Because, while it is in my self interest to be defended, it is not in my self interest to actually do the defending, since that puts my life at risk. It would be in everyone’s self interest to try and get someone else to fight for them. Ultimately, I think the only way to get soldiers would be to pay them so much that they’d be willing to risk their life. Whether they would be Randesians or foreign mercenaries, I do not know.
Like everything else, it seems that the Randesian society would require everything to be about money. The patriotism you are espousing is an inherently altruistic idea, that of defending people who can’t or won’t defend themselves. It requires putting someone other than yourself first, which is taboo.