[Supermancho]

> it is one country, and no amount of clever word play or stat juking will change that.

That's not relevant to the point. As a geographic feature, the US is disparate and even the urban centers persist under wildly different conditions. Looking at it from a perspective OTHER than how humans classify their societies, might give some insight. Generally scientists are interested in data in aggregate that ignore the arbitrary lines drawn generations ago for human edification.

That's how you could graciously interpret the gp's comment, even if you disagree that it's a useful viewpoint.