User blog comment:GrandMethuselah67/Neutral 'verse Character Sheet: Emperor Bradley Hargrave/@comment-28694519-20160901221623/@comment-26322734-20160901231301

Bingo.

No matter how differently Bradley runs the empire, he's ultimately a product of his father's fascist, anti-democratic views. Authoritarianism is second-nature to him, so he naturally sees his subjects as dispensible insects that can't be trusted to make decisions for themselves.