Jurisprudence Angola Prison. Matthew Hinton/AFP via Getty Images This story was produced in partnership with Deep South Today , a network of nonprofit, nonpartisan local newsrooms in Louisiana and Mississippi.  One of the less noted but still significant collateral costs of the contested 2000 election was that it cemented the “ Red State vs. Blue State ” metaphor in our national consciousness. This has ossified an almost Civil War–esque way of thinking about politics as battles between states. But in many—if not most—cases, the consequential fights are within states, especially between GOP-dominated state governments and their much more Democratic cities. A flood of state laws across the country have sought to hamstring or reverse local autonomy, often not to advance sound policy, but to undo local Democratic-leaning policies that are disliked by more conservative suburban and rural voters. This is playing out again in Louisiana, where Republican Gov.…