Nothing in your statements takes into account the reality that both the public and the government rejected pursuing a permanent presence on the Moon when they had the chance. Having the Moon constantly in site is obviously not a major motivator.

The reason to go to Mars first is that it has resources to make it self sustaining and is not much harder to reach in terms of propulsion than the Moon. The return is the hard part and is made much easier with in-situ respurce utilization. Neither the Moon or asteroids appear to be economically feasible targets at this time and neither has sufficient resources to be self sustaining. In order to establish a permanent presence in space we need either a strong profit lure or self sustaining capability.

If anyone can figure out a way to make money off the Moon or NEOs I'm all for it and think it would actually be the easiest path to a permanent space presence. Unfortunately launch costs make even the most inefficient alternatives on Earth far more economically profitable than the supposed resource options in space. Reducing launch costs should be a prime focus of NASA for that reason if their goal is to open up space to humanity.

The second major goal should be to establish a base capable of as much self sustainance as possible so that little funding is required from Earth. Mars fits that bill, The Moon and NEO's don't. The less it takes to maintain a presence in space the less likely it is to be cancelled to raid the funds for other programs.

Public interest is also an issue and I think Mars fascinates the public far more than the Moon. I don't think there has been any good scientific polls to prove this. But the polls I have seen and other anecdotal evidence support this. Why do you suppose more sci-fi flicks are based on Mars than the Moon. You see far more about Mars in the mainstream press as well.

Off cource NEO detection is the third major priority NASA should focus on in order to make sure we are around long enough to exploit opportunities in space.

NASA's basic research mission is also more in line with exploration of Mars than the Moon.

Regards,
Mark