Because that’s what their identity is based on. They aren’t able to see that their understanding of who/what they are, is based on a model that no longer exists.

It still does here and I believe there are enough people here (old timers and newcomers) that understand it and will protect it by any means necessary, which really means walking away from a federation that has always been, and which was founded on, the ability to extract wealth from the west to feed the east.