Remember the joke about the guy on his roof in the flood: I sent two boats and a helicopter, what more did you want?
He gave an a fascinations with the night sky, a curiosity of physical laws, a need make tools to exploit those laws, and a whole lot of geological evidence that there is a ticking clock. What more do you want?
A country that survives intact. You and I both know without a strong USA, that venture would not happen.
Like I said... 99.999% of the world's population would never benefit from the existence of a tiny outpost on the lunar surface, other than -- I suppose -- taking comfort in knowing a barely measurable sliver of it might survive for a little while after the inevitable asteroid hits earth.