They need government to enforce contracts, print money, etc. Not to mention various kinds of corporate welfare and taxpayer-funded R&D at universities (usually under defense spending) that large corporations receive for nothing after it results in something marketable.

The corporate propagandists just want to convince the "little people" that government is bad if it does anything to help people like themselves.

Government is part of the problem, though. Corporations could ultimately blame our court-based "rules" for their behavior, after all. When they defined corporations and how they should operate over a century ago, corporations were even urged to pursue government welfare whenever possible. That's "free money" for the investor class who didn't want to be bothered enough to actually manage the businesses themselves, so it's a pretty logical guideline.

We ALL need government, but the current system is screwed up and most people keep getting distracted by the propaganda. People with power want to keep things the same. That's not surprising either (despite how it's hurtling humanity towards doom).

In general I appreciate what you post, and I think your basic point is valid - government is not (necessarily) our enemy. But when you write that government "pretty much exists ... especially in order to protect us from the ravages of unrestrained capitalism," I can't really agree. Government can be used that way (and has), but it's not a given. (e.g., the upward redistribution of wealth that's taken place over the last couple of decades was the result of public policy - that is, it happened because of, not in spite of, government) And more fundamentally, it's the government that imposes capitalism in the first place.