While I cannot eliminate the possibility that certain Core devs working for Blockstream may indeed share a vision with their employer as to what Bitcoin's future would be
Hahahaha.
That's a nice downplaying manipulation right there.
Actually most of prominent Bitcoin Core devs also work for Blockstream: Adam Back Gregory Maxwell Luke-Jr Matt Corallo Pieter Wuille
That's not all - people above are actually the founders of Blockstream & whole lightning concept.
The arguments provided above should be enough for anybody to abolish Bitcoin Core forever. But there is of course much, much, much more from last year.
I will repeat this once more, for posterity:
Saying that "bitcoin is hashcash extended with inflation control" is exactly like saying that "car is just horse carriage extended with combustion engine"
A person who said such thing must have HUGE ego problems.