I think the ultimate goal for quite a few is for bitcoin or some cryptocurrency to completely replace central bank currencies and really just be power to the people.

It's definitely about giving power back to the people without any middle man intervention. Nobody is questioning that. This is pretty much why we are all so passionate abut crypto.

You could still have a cryptocurrency that changed at a predictable rate, or that could be governed in a defined and specific way by the people, so it would be less prone to corruption and hijacking by special interests.

How could it change at a predictable rate without having some sort of external intervention? You mean a more democratic voting process to the coin? Doesn't the development community for coins already have this sort of power anyway?

From what I've seen about bitcoin, I don't know see any reason as to why once the volatility stops and it scales, why it couldn't ultimately be the currency. If you calculate deflation and decrease wages by that amount, I'd expect the average worker would have an increase in standard of living compared to the average worker today getting (partial) inflation matches. It would also incentivize savings.

Hmm, interesting idea to decrease wages by the amount of expected deflation. While it makes sense that your standard of living could still be higher, can you imagine a politician selling this fact to the population? :P