Opportunism is a real problem in every system, but you can stop it if you’re well organized. Ultimately I reject your framing because if we were all power hungry we’d be licking fascist boots, not talking to the powerless.

Problem is, you are not my colleague or my boss or similar people. You are someone I might not even end up interacting IRL. Most people will just ignore the people slowly amassing power because they tend to be discreet enough to not raise too many alarms and the same thing might look like just incompetence unless one is looking closely enough. Then there will be people who just find it easier to de-escalate situations, no matter what the outcome, that end up helping the malicious ones get out unscathed. Cover-ups follow. And the power-hungry will mostly be found in places of power. Whether you interact with them directly, depends upon where you end up working.