If space is a real frontier then we must treat it as such. We must decide that opening the frontier is the goal by which we measure all of our human space activities, not science - settlement. This is a major distinction demanding a whole different national discussion. The scientists will be free to go off and have their own arguments. The debate is no longer humans versus robots.
Human activities are the goal.
Thus the new debate must be over the best and lowest cost way to open space to permanent human habitation. We cannot afford the cost. Instead the DC-X Single Stage To Orbit rocket project, with its rapid turn around, clean motors, and low cost should be made a national priority before the bureaucrats kill it. We must cancel the ridiculously overpriced space station and let credible private firms who have excellent low cost ideas for alternatives bid for the job. This means more than an Antarctica style camp, rather creating new enterprises in joint government and private ventures.