In that thread (Chapter 1), go straight to Post #9. One of our book club members hit it on the first try.
Liberals think that people are too stupid to think for themselves and take responsibility for knowing what the date is. -- rlmorel
Aside from the fact that it's done with the public money I don't find it any more paternalistic than a time/date/temperature sign on the side of the bank. To me it's more symbolic of a fiddling-while-Rome-burns preoccupation with trivia when society is running off the rails (literally in AS's case).
What the government should be saying to themselves is "Nothing works. People who make things work are nowhere to be found. Is this the result of something we did and if so we'd better get about un-doing it post haste. If, on the other hand, this problem isn't due to something we did, we better leave well enough alone because it would be arrogant to think we can make it better. We work for the government so it's a given that anything we do will make the problem worse, which is why we're government employees instead of having actual jobs."
Now I realize that you all are more familiar with Rand and with AS than I, and whatever happens to the calendar in future chapters may have tipped you off to the motives that led to its creation, but that was the way it seemed to me at first blush.