Why should strength give a bonus to hit?

[kintire]

I suppose you can get IF without feats through the Fencing skills, but that means getting up to 22 reliably in that skill while jacking Bluff to high heaven to make the feint work on 2 or 4 skill ranks per level while needing to use more Power Attack and/or Reckless Attack than the Str fighter to do enough damage to force a MDS.

The MDS is a different issue. I don't use them, but that's not because of finesse vs Strength, that's because of 2h weapon > everything else.

A finesse fighter with improved feint and a few levels of Thief, or a Zingaran finesse fighter with just one, can make up the damage difference very quickly. And a fighter with high Dex will be able to dodge better. A significant increase in your ability to avoid missiles is not to be sneezed at.