For the sake of this argument, let's bring a new point to mind:
Not everyone was competitive with Melee, either there wasn't that big of a scene where they lived, or Smash as a competitive game wasn't networked and advertised as well as it should have been, and many people who WOULD have played competitively (truly competitively, traveling around city/state in order to compete, one or two tourneys in Melee's prime days don't count, like with me attending next to no tournaments). Now here's Brawl, brand new after the sensation that was Melee. Many people pick up the game and love it.
What's the difference between them picking up Melee at Brawl's release date and loving it, and picking up Brawl on that same day?
Nobody was playing Brawl for 6 years (at Brawl's date of release, of course) before these people picked it up. The playing field was leveled once again (though in-game smarts carried over indefinitely for every Melee player, and they were still most certainly more skilled than the new smashers).
What is my point? Simply put, Brawl may not be more balanced in terms of characters (that's still up for debate, and will probably be for a couple more years until tier-whoring is in full swing,) but as a game in general, simply due to it's release date, it is more balanced for players.
Moral of the story? Melee fanboys, please realize that Melee and the money to be made from it are dying. Nobody wants to pick up a game that has been practiced, nitpicked, studied, and perfected by other people for seven years. Pick up Brawl, the better player WILL come out on top, and if that's you, well then awesome. You just earned yourself more money at a local scrub monthly than you would've won at a melee regional event.
I speak from experience my friends. CS 1.6 in America has died and been replaced by its inbred niece CS:S. Either go with the flow and pick up Brawl and make yourself some money (if you're good enough,) or move on with life and save yourself a lot of stress watching Melee deteriorate into a pitiful echo of its once glorious prime.