For the last century and a half, people have moved west for a variety of reasons. Most of these wanted no more proximity to a cow than to grill the occasional steak (and we are grateful, cowboys). Almost all were transformed, at least to some degree, into Westerners. It might have been the natural beauty or the notion the West was a place where a person could fend for themselves, family, and neighbors. Comes with the territory, so to speak. These people were challenged by The West and, if they didn't meet the challenge, most were and are able to contend.
In the past forty or fifty years we have seen more and more of those who brought The East with them like overweight baggage at the airport. They move on to your street and immediately set up shrines to whatever their hometown was, wear the baseball caps and T shirts and start talking about how they can't wait to move 'home'. You can never tell whether they are being condescending to you or are just patronizing the local rustics.

If you consider yourself a rustic, then I don't care where your gestation terminated. Welcome home.

I wasn't born in SW Arizona, but I got here 'quick as I could. I'm not alone in this.

I Was Born A Cowboy

I never saw the spectacle
‘Cause I wasn’t yet alive
When them cowboys moved those great herds north
In an old west cattle drive

I can’t speak first hand to that
I wasn’t never there
Or mayhap I was somehow
Long ago, somewhere

I was born a cowboy
My wife will tell ya so
Could be that once I was
But how I’ll never know

When I put these ol’ time clothes on
I know just how they fit
‘Know what goes where ‘n how ‘n why
Like I’ve been used to it

Maybe not ‘me’
Leastaways, the me I know
But maybe then, another ‘me’
‘Fore this ‘me’ began to grow

Is this reincarnation?
Otherwise, how would I know
What happened near instinctively
When no one told me so

I’m tough and independent
Never given much to class
I’ll speak my mind no matter
Or y’all can kiss my ass

I imagine… visions
The kind ya can’t describe
Of a world that don’t exist no more
‘Gone ‘fore I was alive

I can stand out in this desert
Feel what might’a happened here
Tho no trace remains at all
I sense the joy or fear

Ore wagons and the freighters
‘Can almost hear ‘em curse
The Cavalry out on patrol
When the sun was at it’s worst

The gamblers and the drifters
The bustle of a frontier street
The sounds of some saloon piano
The clank of spurs on booted feet

The swish ‘n crack of the long romal
A drovers whistling call
The lowing of three thousand beeves
Where now there stands a mall

I’ve crossed the paths of outlaws
The trails of warrior chiefs
The lonesome trek of cowboys
The massive herds of beeves

The land around looks different now
But much of it remains
The same as it was long ago
When them cowboys rode these plains

I know I ain’t the only one
With that ancient gene infused
Who know the way instinctively
How stuff was worn ‘n used

Same could be said of Renaissance
Or warriors now long dead
Some force remains in some of us
‘n gets inside our head

There is a certain kinship
With those times ‘n lore
‘Wasn’t nuthin’ I was taught
But I’ve been here before

I’ve always had that cowboy ‘thing’
To all I have confessed
I’m either reincarnate
Or somehow been possessed

I was born a cowboy
It’s just the way I am
Y’all can tell me it ain’t so
I do not give a damn

I don't know what a "westerner" is, I suspect it has something to do with those wild west movies and all that.

John Wayne was from Illinois, and Tom Selleck was born in Michigan. Both Sam Elliot and Clint Easwood are from CA if I recall correctly.

Wyatt Earp was also from IL, and so was Buffalo Bill Cody. I even heard Wyatt's pal, Bat Masterson was a Canadian for God's sake. Billy the Kid, he was from NY or so they say.

Phil Sheridan was born in NY as well. And that's the man who said "the only good indian is a dead indian". Wanna talk about settling the west, you will talk about Sheridan and I don't mean that town in northern WY (but they got King Ropes there and good food).

I ain't concerned with places of birth or anything like that. To me it's about your general disposition and what you hold inside. Lots of people out here would love to live in some nice place in Manhattan, some there would love to be out here I believe.

these data show how many people have moved out here. manifest destiny 21st century style - things haven't changed much.