interstellar travel

In my musings, I've often wondered if mankind could ever possibly really make it to the stars. I've occasionally seen speculations about it, involving Bussard Ramjets, or spaceships powered by atomic bombs, or whatever. However, there is one basic point that has eluded me, because I don't know...

The talk about justifying the NASA budget and continuing the space program often waxes about space colonization. I think those people watch too much Star Trek. We are never getting off this planet and we better learn to live and take care of it without the silly pipe dream of going somewhere...