Another hypothesis I have is that the LRC culture of submission was created in an environment where a leadership claims to have special revelation of the bible that no other Christians have. Under such an environment followers would gravitate towards trusting and blindly submitting to and following their leaders because no longer is Jesus to source of divine revelation, but their leader is. Their identity is no longer in Christ, but it's wrapped up in the revelator. That's why those in the LRC become so offended when Witness Lee is criticized, because their identity is wrapped up in him. An attack on Lee would subconsciously be viewed as an attack on themselves.
Jehovah's Witness, a sect which now claims over 8 million members developed in the United States and have something similar going on. They believe that only their leaders are qualified to interpret the bible for them and that every other Christian outside of their sect is misled. It's even more taboo than in the LRC to question authority. But then again they are considered by most to be a cult...
Here's a video of Francis Chan's conversation with a JW:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcFMGKLTI5k
The JW tells this pastor "Your problem is that you read the bible by yourself. You need our leaders to interpret it for you."
This is a similar mindset I've heard from ex-JW I've met online who all say they lived in an environment where no one could ever question the elders or the Watchtower's teachings, but they were pretty much expected to blindly follow.