Personally, were I to be a manager, my reason would be money.

When I was in the Marines I was a manager of sorts. Was in charge of 12 guys, direct report for three teams of four guys apiece. I made demands of them, but when our goals were met I let them use their time as they wanted. I got down into the shit with them, I taught them, I made them teach each other. Overall, we all performed well. I liked being in charge because I felt I could help make them better, and I think I did. I am certainly not the only person to have been that way.

I think your generalization is overly broad, and it just reeks of nobody should have to do anything. There needs to be some structure to things, we've had hierarchies going back a bajillion years, they exist in the animal world, it just makes sense. To claim that all managers just want to put their thumbs on people sounds ignorant.

I eventually got out, and it was basically because I knew that I was no longer going to be able to lead the same, my priorities in life had changed, and it was time to step aside. Again, I'm confident I'm not alone, and I say that becaue I've had very good leaders. To your point, though, I have had some absolute shitheads who were my bosses, managers, leaders, but far from all of them. But they do exist.

My last manager was great. Never told me how to do anything and basically kept me insulated from the higher-ups so I could get shit done. His only negative was that as a former dentist he kept telling me I should floss more.