i frequently rail against "the state", but i don't mean "the government" when i do that. this is kind of a basic point that you deal with in anarchism 101 and that i sometimes forget that most americans are oblivious to.
but, like, fucking learn it.
so, what is the state, if it's not the government? and, what is the government if it's not the state?
the state refers to what donald trump might call the swamp, or what the populists of days past might have called the "elite". the state is always there - it is beyond the reach of electoral politics, and not removed or altered by the popular will. it inhabits the public and private institutions, it permeates the police and it governs without direction by popular will. the french called it the aristocracy; marx called it the bourgeoisie. but, it's there, behind the working of things, at all times. when leftists (and here, i mean not just anarchists and marxists but "real liberals" as well) talk about "abolishing the state", this is what they mean - abolishing the nexus of power that exists between banks, politicians, corporations and the upper class that runs the world.
and what do leftists want to replace the state with?
the answer is government.
government refers to the democratization of institutions, and not just traditional political institutions but also the democratization of work and the democratization of services, such as health care. you can talk about proudhonian mutualism, the kind of co-operatives pushed by kropotkin & bakunin, the syndicalism in spain or boring old marxist labour unions, but the basic point here is the democratization of every facet of existence - and that is government, in opposition to the tyranny and authority of the state.
the discourse in america is, as usual, deeply confused.
but, just remember this - you are not the state, unless you are at the very top of the elite. but, you are the government.