Deep seated feelings of inadequacy.
They feel incapable of deciding what is the right thing to do.
They feel that they will be cheated by businesses, the grocer, the power company and everyone else. They dont think that they are smart enough or that they dont have enough information to make decisions.
They think that the people in government are smarter and have all the necessary information to make the right choices.
Now why they think that these people are smarter than they are is another question all together or why do they think that these people are more honest than people in the private sector.
I had friends who got out of communist Hungary during the Cold War. They had friends who had immigrated to the West, and went right back to communist Hungary. Freedom includes the freedom to fail, and for people who have spent their entire lives being guaranteed employment, the notion of being out of work and unable to provide for themselves was so terrifying they went back to communism.