Seems a vast majority of Liberals want to rebuild the party. It also seems that a small handful want to "merge" with the NDP. Is that a matter of convenience? Is that so we can "get back to power" quickly? If that is honestly the best defense of a move that Harper would cherish, then you're really... err... nuts.
Preston Manning, and Tommy Douglas before him, built parties from nothing. They started from scratch. They had 0 MPs, and an ideology that most people rejected outright. Think about that for a minute.
We have much more to start with: A fund-raising organization, national links and memberships in EVERY single riding across the land, and MOST IMPORTANTLY: highly skilled people (our membership) made up of some of the elite in their areas of expertise. Thinkers at a nation-building scale. People with national and global visions. We are much more than a formerly-separatist, right-wing Prairie rump.
If Manning could build his party to what it has become, then certainly we can start with much more and achieve greater things. We will need to start with bold ideas. We WILL have to allow the grassroots to truly drive our policy. We will also have to be willing to accept the will of the greater part of the party when said policy comes to vote - but also to seriously consider what we might think of as "fringe" ideas, which we could seriously grow with.
Right now I see the vast majority of Liberals wanting to work hard in the difficult, but VERY interesting project of renewing policy and getting back to ideological roots, and a tiny minority supporting a "marriage of convenience" with the NDP, to boost ourselves back into power. While cooperation (and indeed, even a coalition) with Layton - to defeat Harper when the opportunity presents - is not a bad idea at all, there is no valid reason to eviscerate the party to do so.
Having spent the last 32 years of my life (from Grade 7 to now) championing the Liberal - no... "liberal" actually - cause, I REFUSE to sit down now. I REFUSE to give up. I REFUSE to accept the "easy path".
