Joe,
I totally understand your point(s).  The one thing to remember here is that you don't HAVE to move to FAI, you have to move to Masters whether you think you can do the maneuvers or not.  If we begin to do well in Advanced, we must move up.  Masters guys can sit there indefinitely.  Masters fliers need to be challenged but for newbie Masters guys to come along and be competitive with some of these gentlemen is a task not so easily overcome.  I've seen a lot of Intermediate pilots move up to Advanced and be competitive but "a lot" of Advanced pilots are not going to be proportionately in Masters.