I think you're heading in the right path. I would look at the situation from a slightly different angle. People begin life dependent. They are children and although the thrill of running away and exploring the otherside of the playground is fun, fear always makes them run back to mom just to make sure she is there for us. It is the nature of how people's emotional instincts to seek security from a parental figure.
Government is a parently figure.
Our long struggle toward freedom as a society, is the struggle of analytical part of our brains to overrule the emotions of our instinctual brains and tell ourselves we've grown up now. We take care of ourselves. And in fact that feels damn good. It feels empowering. It feels even more safe than relying on mom, who after all could die on us.