crazy how less dense western US is, when disregarding california...
It is truly another world, with so much wilderness. This difference changes the culture greatly as well, and how people think about land, the earth, and other people. You can find good people and good places everywhere, but the west really is better in nearly all respects.
Hence the importance of liberty as an axiom of federal governance: one group with particular cultural interests (say, deep urban) should not impose their situation-specific views on others far away with radically different cultural interests (say, rank wilderness). What some may find need to prohibit in one situation, others may find necessary to survival in another. The lack of respect of axiomatic liberty causes dangerous sociopolitical tensions.