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Will, what you're describing is a libertarian revolt against special government favors to the well-connected. That maps much more closely to the nonreligious right in the US than to the left. Assault on earmarks? check. Disapproval of bailouts? check. Disapproval of corporate welfare? check. mistrust of public-private "partnerships" (i.e. corporatism - which is what the EIC was)? check. suspicion of government support for privileged or connected groups (unions, the IP lobby)? check. Mistrust of elites and aristocrats? check. Modern day left in America involves promotion of governmental support to all sorts of constituencies. We can argue about whether that is good or bad (and we'd probably disagree) but you can't deny that the modern left's raison d'etre is to promote government programs. Focussing on the fact that the EIC was a corporation leaves out the most important part of the story, because back then there were no corporations except by special government grant -- a corporation was the very definition of special favors. And a corporation with a monopoly was even more offensive.
The analogies don't map perfectly, of course -- history does move on, after all -- but you're right in seeing a real continuity of attitudes. Walter Russell Mead, the historian, refers to these attitudes as Jacksonian. What you've pointed out is that the attitudes substantially predate Jackson.
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