“It is a mistake to try to look too far ahead. The chain of destiny can only be grasped one link at a time.”

I queried a couple of other VW people to see if there is a consensus about what I should do next with this car given the issue of the brake system failing to maintain a pedal.

As suspected, the consensus-and my decision-is that I will pull all of the brake lines and replace them with new parts.  Hard lines and soft lines will all be replaced.  Otherwise, I will spend days/weeks/months chasing problems like the monkey around the Mulberry bush.  To that end, I placed a few orders last night/today to ensure that I have all of the pieces I need to replace the entire braking system.  I found the proper front and rear pan grommets for the main line from front to rear today.

All that remains is finding the location where 'desire' and 'time' intersect.