So why aren't more Litecoin holders investing in development and infrastructure to keep it relevant in 2014? It seems like a waste for me.
Because they only look to dump it for profit? There was never dedication among Litecoin holders to decouple it from fiat, which some Bitcoin users possess. Litecoin creator never wanted it to be better than Bitcoin. If you don't strive for #1, if you don't have dedication and passion, you lose eventually.
At the very least, Litecoin holders could crowdfund development of a clone of Counterparty running on top of Litecoin network. It could beat Counterparty in adoption, because Bitcoin network is slower. But they can't even do that. Cloning Counterparty wouldn't take a lot of efforts, after all Litecoin itself is a clone of Bitcoin.
Litecoin is very inflationary too right now, 28 800 new LTCs are mined every single day, that's double digit yearly inflation, the market just can't absorb all of it fast enough.