We find plenty of examples where poskim say a lashon such as “ba’al nefesh yachmir”, or “hamachmir tavo alav b’rachah”. You tell me; does it make someone a “better Jew” if he acts in a manner which finds favor in the eyes of the poskim?
Or do you think the “better Jew” is one who seems to always take the easier way out, not in accordance with the way preferred by the poskim?
No, of course we cannot look down upon someone who keeps the ikkar hadin. But we can admire someone who spends more money, or effort, or shows more restraint, to keep a higher standard of halacha. And to equate all standards of halacha is a perversion of the Torah. It is simply not the attitude we find in the poskim.