If there is no military advantage to gain by going to mars or the moon, or for that matter space travel itself, then we should save our money.
I would agree with you. At least unless propulsion takes a leap forward. This guy claims to have a built a magnetic fusion containment engine when he was 17. He needs to put up or shut up. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEPYOad1cnQ&feature=related
There is always a military advantage in occupying the high ground, even with just a limitless supply of rocks to throw.
Not getting off the planet virtually guarantees at some point the human race will be forced into extinction by a natural disaster. We’ve been bottlenecked at least one time in the past. After that, there was probably about 5,000 humans on the entire planet. A super volcano is thought to be the cause.