Pat H,
I think your situation is more geographical because in the big four states of baseball (CA, FL, TX, and GA) it is definately not that way. There is a significant difference in the players playing LL baseball and that of travel ball. (While I say that, it does not mean that there are not travel teams who are worse than the local LL All-star team.)
You can watch the USSSA Elite World Series for 12U and compare that to the LLWS and see the difference.