There is nothing on Mars worth dying for. Build the lander if you must, let the defense contractors collect their contracts, then blow it up on the launchpad. All objectives accomplished, everyone goes home to their families.
I had the pleasure of meeting Noel Odell at the RGS (Royal Geographic Society) in London once when Doug Scott was presenting. It was like I imagine meeting Einstein. He "knew" that Mallory topped out, and because of that, so do I. But I also agree that a climb is not completed until you get down, so Ed and Tenzing hold their place, regardless.
Let each choose his own.
As long as we have enough energy, we can make fertilizers. Of course, petrochemicals are a nice raw material, but not necessary.
And we are not running out of energy, anytime soon. (Though we may run out of oil.)
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe - Carl Sagan
On the practical side: Using coal as a raw material, you should be able to make fertilizers with only somewhat more energy than from oil.
Rather than the government funding everything, the mere possibility of being able to find a 100 ton lump of gold (or whatever) would get multiple space exploration efforts kicked up the butt immediately ;-)
If we want to advance our Space Travel technology, we need to keep trying to do things beyond our reach, to force us to improve.
Give up and hide in your cave, and you are dead already.
I sincerely disagree. The only valid question is whether the time is right - that's something you can argue about.