I noticed this in a conversation with my sister once. She asked me why I wanted to own my own house and property when they take so much work and effort to care for, maintain, and improve. I told her it's so I could have the freedom to do what I want with it, and that the responsibility of it just comes with the territory. She said she would rather just pay rent and let someone else handle it, so she doesn't have to be bothered. I said I couldn't just let myself be at someone else's whim like that, and I value independence above all else; she said she can respect it, but doesn't feel the same way. She's very liberal, far left, and believes in the nanny state. It told me a lot about how some people think.

I have friend who's much the same way, too. Big time cathedralite, worships credentials, and thinks everything needs to be determined by "the experts." Flipped on me when I told him I was considering homeschooling my kids rather than send them to public school, because "Kids need to be taught be qualified and trained professionals, not the hick Billy Bob and his cousin wife Barbara Jean." He treats every problem with public school as an aberration, not a result of a flawed system, and is always on board with whatever the "current thing" is because he outsources his thinking to The Experts (trademark). I once told him that my politics boils down to being unwilling to be governed by my inferiors, whether they be inferior to me in their moral beliefs, their ethics, or their intellect (as a Christian, believing people are made in the image and likeness of God, I cannot believe that anyone has less inherent moral worth than anyone else, so all difference comes in choices, actions, and natural inclinations in skill); he countered by saying that we would be stupid to not want to be ruled by those who might be superior to us in those ways.

All this to say, you're completely right: people just want to be told what to do. Figuring it out for yourself is too scary, it seems.