The game has been established and grown with that attitude and its hard to argue with success. We can disagree with some USGA rules and rulings, but golfers and society in general need some uniformity and experience-based guidance. Otherwise, constant uncertainty, arguing and chaos will result. This seems to us to be most necessary in rules about slow play. The governing bodies seldom call penalties for the incredible amount of wasted and generally game-destroying time to get off a shot.
Golf is an international game of honor, played by all ages, all races, all nationalities.
One set of rules for all, evenly applied to all. And perhaps one governing body. It started innocently enough, mostly from the American tendency to prefer stroke play over match play. Stroke play, against a remote group of opponents, made less than strict adherence to the rules inevitable, especially in a society that valued fun and ease. In the last couple of decades of the twentieth century, winter rules were played by most players for most of the year in most of the states north of Florida.