The situations described by KADmom and the situation described by HowlerKarma look totally different to me, despite superficial similarities.

HowlerKarma's case is analagous to McDonalds corporate headquarters dictating uniformity among its franchises.

KADmom's case is analagous to a local city official decreeing that all local restaurants have to have identical menus, and cook their food exactly the same way, and everyone has to eat the same thing at the same time.

I really don't believe that any "national trends" have anything much to do with KADmom's situation. It's very much a local situation, and I would bet that the extreme weirdness of the situation can be best understood by viewing the responsible individuals in the following terms:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personality_disorder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy