It'd be more accurate to say the state is a machine which operates according to procedural rules (laws, dictates, etc.) that aren't amoral in their construction

It'd be more accurate to say the state is a machine which operates according to procedural rules (laws, dictates, etc.) that aren't amoral in their construction. This is part of the nature of states -- and any large social institutions which are governed in this manner. It's this proceduralisation of action which allows very large groups of people to operate together collectively -- the downside is "procedural sadism", if you wish to call it that.