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.
Oops. Meant to include you in the to: for my last post. Publius had some nice things to say about the line I quoted.
That would make a great tag line if it were shorter.
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.
If the display showed date, time and temperature, I would agree with you. But it's done with public money at the Mayor of New York's orders, and it only shows the date and nothing else. That makes me agree with "rlmorel" that there is the whiff of paternalism there. A caldendar display leaving out time and temperature is like a freeway bridge that constricts to two lanes. It's typical of government and not up to the job.
All the above posts were interesting. One additional thought about the calendar-
It's significant that the calendar is mounted on the skyscraper, a product of mans effort. In a way, it's being claimed by the looters. Analogous to planting a flag on a mountain peak.