"the state"?

What is this thing called "the state"? Whether federal or at the regional level, the thing is supposedly acting in the interests of the people. If it does not, it is not doing what it is supposed to be. It is not supposed to be an autonomous bureaucratic entity. (I put on hold the serious worry that all bureaucratic entities have a tendency to become autonomous--if there is only a tendency, it is not inevitable. On a different construal of the claim, it is hopeless to hope for any progress in the way we organize our societies--a proposition easiest to affirm if one is comfortably situated.)

Consider the following:
from a discussion of "Medicaid" and getting help for aged parents...

"It is in the best interest of the state to give you the most conservative interpretation of the law..."

Here "conservative" means least generous or to give an interpetation which provides as little help as possible to a needy citizen.

But this situation, which the authors of this book so blandly report, is outrageous.

Governments exist for the sake of people, not the other way around.

What's being described is witholding medical assistance from those who need it...
And it is described as in the "best interest" of the state...

[digression/footnote]
(Oh yeah, another fundamental fact:
what's the purpose of medicine?
answer a: to relieve human suffering
answer b: to enrich the already rich, prolong their lives, and maintain a sufficient number of wage slaves in a complaisant position so that the ruling class has no fear of losing their unearned privileges.
Answer (a) is the correct answer; and Answer (b) seems to be the view of the powerful...)

(Do you say: there's just not enough money to go around! Someone has to suffer!
I say: Oh, yeah: Prove it! Because I do not believe it. And before you do,
tell me how much you are suffering because I suspect that you are not volunteering to suffer, but are assuming that someone else will do the suffering for you.)

Oh yeah, you already knew that health care in the USA is bad, that the government in the USA is bad... bad? how about a pile of shit ... or, more carefully, fundamentally flawed in a way that makes a mockery of any claims of democracy or concern for the well-being of ordinary people... as if the government were only, occasionally, to serve the people by accident....

(Reference: The above quoted line is from "The 36-Hour Day, fourth edition; subtitle: "A Family Guide to Caring for People with Alzheimer Disease, Other Dementias, and Memory Loss in Later Life", Nancy L. Mace, and Peter V. Rabins (Johns Hopkins University Press)--they have lots of titles, but it is worth recalling the words of Thomas Paine
"Titles are like circles drawn by the magician's wand, to contract the sphere of man's felicity"
Ah, but didn't Paine mean aristocratic titles? To be sure, but there is a doubt in my mind about the value of any titles.
Nonetheless, titles or no, the citizens Mace and Rabins have written a valuable book. The unhappy reality that they reflect was not created by them.....

After-thought (added 15 December)
It would appear that this entry (and undoubtedly other entries and thoughts) assumes (assume) a traditional or conventional understanding of the state... I hope to expand upon that remark in a new entry soon...