[bb88]

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. --Lord Acton.

It's not really so much one's belief system as it is what happens when one gets power -- and that's hard to predict regardless of the ideology.

[galangalalgol]

Not really. Seeing what people do when they get power is as predictable as what they do when given meth.

[nerdsniper]

Eh. Maybe. But I do see people who are pretty consistent when they have power. It may be somewhat unpredictable before they get power, but somewhat more predictable once you’ve seen how they act with it.

This principle of relative consistency is baked into how I test employees for management and friends for trust, and in the past, roommates as well. Though I do acknowledge potential for growth as well, but in my older age I generally also need to see evidence of motivation to give strong benefit of the doubt wrt possible trajectory.