> The issue is the public is too spread out between different corporations.

This did not happen by accident. The best products survived the competition and the rest got terminated or practically terminated by the companies. Just how it should be in a good capitalist system. You believe MSFT never tried their hands on search? Or Google never tried to make a Facebook competitor? The nicer part: there is always a startup lurking around which might just dethrone you if you get too complacent.

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> If they put aside some of their differences and compromised their individual strengths in certain areas to allows greater co-operation between them they can better defend themselves against the government.

They do collaborate when it makes sense for them to do so. Example: Intel still makes the processor chips for Macs.