No, I think it is as Sazed puts it with the Lord Ruler(paraphrasing here) "because of the nature of the power, he was naturally inclined to act reactionary instead of preventionary" (the reason why he made volcanoes instead of trying to push the planet back)
Wait... You might be right. That quote proves your point. Darn.
One qualm that I have is how does the power know if it is being used to preserve or destroy?
One random thought. It is interesting to see how the Lord Ruler was a mix of Ruin and Preservation. I mean he kept a civilization very much the same for nearly a thousand years, which must have made Leras pretty happy (even if he was very weak). But he killed entire civilizations to get it that way, including the Terris. He also made thousands of Koloss, the servants of Ruin. On the other hand, he helped make thousands of Allomancers as well. It is just interesting to think of TLR as a servant of Ruin (with Hemalurgy), of Preservation (strong Allomancer), and yet still hold part of himself ( the little house, his Feurchemy)