Even in relatively good times, a sadly disproportional amount of the
general public looks upon space exploration as an extravagant luxury
that has no direct effect on their immediate lives. So you can imagine
the reaction if Obama said he was going to give NASA megabillions to
send a few humans to Mars right now.

So long as the vast majority of humans remain on Earth, the rest of the
Universe - no matter how much grander and more significant in reality it
may be - will be an afterthought or the setting for a Star Wars type
story at best.

I want to say better education on the subject might turn the tide, but
we are also up against an anti-science and technology mindset that has
prevailed since the 1960s when certain groups began to equate progress
with the downfall rather than the uplift of human society. It has been
a long struggle and there are some signs of that attitude being turned
around, if for no other reason that people really don't want to lose their
cell phones or Internet access, but the feeling that anything deemed
"unnatural" (human-made) is somehow detrimental to us still remains.
This naturally extends to space exploration, which requires a lot of
technology, science, and educated minds to happen.

I am thinking of the old phrase the meek shall inherit the Earth - the
rest of us are going to the stars.

Not if the meek outnumber the rest and refuse to care or foot the bill.