As a descriptor, corporate merely says that an association that makes or sells goods for profit is publicly registered as a corporation. (Nonprofits can be corporations too.) This distinguishes the association from sole proprietorships and partnerships. That in turn means the participants in the association have agreed contractually to do business and raise capital in particular ways. Its ownership shares are readily tradeable; it may pay dividends to shareholders; it has a board of directors that hires officers and managers who may not be shareholders, etc.

That's it! That this form of free association should be so despised by "left" and "right" is rooted in misunderstanding, illiberalism, or both.

Incorporation carries no privileges or special obligations under the law. It is a free arrangement arising from a contract and the efficiency-enhancing division of labor between owners and managers. As an association of individuals who have the rights to life, liberty, and lawfully acquired property, the corporation is properly subject to the same laws as anyone else, no more or less. Corporations are (groups of) people. It's as simple as that. (Thus the decision in Citizens United v. FEC was a no-brainer.)

So why do we constantly hear terms like corporate state, corporate America, and corporate media? These are always intended to disparage companies rather than merely describe their business structure. However, what may be objectionable about particular firms is not that they have shareholders, boards of directors, officers, and managers. That is not why they might do things we don't like. To condemn them because they are corporations makes no sense. It's condemnation by non-essentials.

This of course is not to say that individuals associated with corporations never do anything wrong. Virtually every method of organization, like every tool, has been put to good and ill purposes. That cannot invalidate a particular noncoercive method in itself. You may have noticed that corporations have done a lot of good over many years in bringing goods and services to consumers. That some have sought government privileges, which harm taxpayers and consumers, is not the fault of the corporate form. It is the fault of particular individuals. More than that, it's the fault of the "bazaar" model of the state. If the government had no power to force the taxpayers to pay for other people's favors, no one could lobby for favors. That's simple logic.