Is the word corporate some new fade attack word? Do you people realize that everything you buy is basically corporate made? If you hate corporations so much stop buy merchandise driving cars, using the roads, using your corporation made TV and computers, throw those cell phones away, Do not fly in an airplane, Burn your clothes, throw your rotten corporation made food away. Stop drinking those fattening sodas, burn your home to the ground do not buy heath insurance, car insurance life insurance, Through your PS 3 xbox 360 GAMES AWAY. No corporation's are just the enemy of the socialist.
"Corporation" and "Corporatism" are words that, like "conservative" or "liberal". get overloaded with specific, contextual meanings that often go in conflicting directions. I can't speak for anyone else here, but I don't have a problem with the idea of incorporated business. Some aspects of the corporate charter need to be modified - mainly limited liability - but I don't see anything wrong with the idea of people joining forces to conduct business.
"Corporatism" on the other hand, is incompatible with a free society. Because of its relationship to "corporation", "corporatism" is a term that is frequently misunderstood. Most people think of it as corporate (as in incorporated businesses) control over government. But that's not really what it's about.
Corporatism is a style of
government whereby leaders delegate the power of the state to competing interest groups. In such a state, the aim is no longer to promote justice, or protect individual rights, but instead about divvying up power in society. The 'corporation' in corporatism is any block of organized political power. This
can be a traditional corporation (business), but it also includes unions, industry and trade groups, religions, special interest groups like the NRA or the AARP, bankers, racial groups, etc, etc...
Under corporatism, individual rights no longer matter much. Government goes about its business attending to the demands and desires of the different 'corporations' in society. The goal is to balance out power as much as possible and keep everybody content. The rights and privileges of any given person depend on which corporation they belong to.
Obama seems to have firmly embraced corporatism. The health care reform debacle was a classic example - writing law that had very little to do with the rights of citizens and was, instead, a matter of placating the demands of the 'major players' in the industry. Pretty much anytime you hear a leader touting plans to "partner with industry (or any other 'corporation')", you're looking at corporatism.
This kind of government naturally leads to large, well-funded 'interest groups' controlling things. In our society some of the largest, and best funded interest groups are multi-national corporations. Which is why you do, in fact, see a conspicuously large amount of corporate influence on government. But 'hating on corporations' is a vast oversimplification of what's going on.