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Previous comments...
The closest person other than Rand to explain it properly, was Calvin Coolidge, the thirtieth President of the United States.
Those who accept altruism have rejected their own interests as moral. Altruism leaves its adherents in a state of duty to sacrifice to others while leaving as a matter of principle no guidance in the entire realm of personal choices in one's own life, rejected as irrelevant to the field of ethics.
That said, I have given up trying to convince some political leaders of that. The motives of Barack Obama, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), Senator Cory Booker (D-N.J.), et al. are clearly spiteful, as their attitudes, behaviors, and policy proposals make clear in this and other contexts.
The answer is not an appeal to what "works" -- for whom, for what purpose, at whose expense and by what standard? That is pragmatism. It is true that political and economic freedom is practical and 'works' better than collectivism, but the justification is the rights of the individual, which in turn depends on an ethics of rational self-interest and individualism. Even if some variant of socialism could be made to 'work' by some standard, which it can't, it would not justify the violation of the rights of the individual to pursue his own goals in freedom..
You shouldn't have to give up on convincing the political leaders you listed -- because they were hopeless to begin with and you never should have started trying. Start with rational people willing to listen. The politicians are only the consequence.
That is why Ayn Rand argued that it is too soon for politics. There are some policies and action on which some politicians can still be persuaded from common sense, because they realize that it is 'safe'. Even 'liberal' Democrats can sometimes be persuaded to help on some specific issue. But overall it takes a philosophical revolution. There are no shortcuts.