Earlier quoted context omitted.
And there's "tons" that don't, aren't there? So... maybe we should do this democratically and let the elected government decide what happens with federal land and not resort to this kind of "who matters more" nonsense?
Most people would say that they should have more say about jobs versus community trade offs in their local area than folks somewhere else. It’s only due to accidents of history that New Yorkers can veto economic development in Alaska in a way Alaskans can’t do with New York. Not just due to numbers but due to the historical development of the relevant property rights.
This is wildly incorrect. Alaskans have vastly higher relative representation in the federal government than New Yorkers, and it really isn't close. It's something like 3x as many house/senate votes per capita!
It's just not absolute. New Yorker are Americans, just like Alaskans, and so New Yorkers get a say about what to do with American resources like federal wilderness areas, just like Alaskans get a say with how to regulate New York guns shops, medical procedures or tax rates.
We call that "democracy", and while it's currently sorta falling apart in this country (due in no small part to the kind of absolutist arguments being deployed right here in this subthread) it's the best scheme we've picked. People really need to start finding ways to live with it instead of burning everything down.