Gary;
I agree with at least 90% of what you said. It's especially ironic that the USGA is willing to host a US Amateur there with the long hitting kids, but the course is "too short" for the pros.
But, you've also got it completely right about the "carrot" that the USGA keeps holding out to the club that is causing them to make unwarranted changed to the course in hopes of currying favor for another US Open. And, despite Price's visit a few years ago, that's not the end of the story.
It was reported on this site last fall that the USGA was going to do a detailed analysis of Merion as a US Open site, and give their findings to the course in the spring. That was the last I heard of it.
Just yesterday, it was reported in the "Philadelphia Inquirer" that Michael Fay has been quoted as saying that he'd love to bring another US Open to Merion, but the USGA would have to adjust its thinking and accept the fact that there would "only" be 20,000 spectators a day on the course. Fay cited the fact that the course has now been stretched to over 6,800 yards, and that additional acreage has been purchased by the club off the sixth hole (presumably for corporate tents) as positives. He also claimed that he was going to meet with other USGA representatives this fall to examine the question of feasibility in detail.
So, the carrot is still being held out, and as long as some slim margin of hope prevails, I imagine the club will continue on their course of doing anything they possibly can to the course to make it possible.
It's a situation where the USGA should have sh*t or gotten off the pot a long time ago, because they aren't doing the club or the course any favors.
Speaking of course changes, does anyone really believe that making bunkers deeper affects players at the professional level after watching recovery shots at Olympia Fields? It seems to me that only if bunkers play as hazards, with uncertain results and consequences should one enter them, that 60+ degree wedges have taken all of the challenge out of the depth equation.