Why drop into the Lunar gravity well at all then? LEO <-> Demos is less delta-V than LEO <-> Luna, and doesn't require low-ISP chemical rockets except for the initial boost.
It does not have to be an either/or mutually exclusive thing.
Do not ignore the importance of psychology and symbolism in long-term, cooperative human effort. A moon base that people can visit and inhabit will make concrete what would otherwise be an abstract concept. It will be much easier to get funding, buy-in and cooperation from an Earthling who has been to the Moon than from someone who at best sees anything happening in space through screens.
