Clueless Democrats - both in Congress and even in the progressive blogosphere - are about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory once again. How? By letting Republicans turn the Scandal of the Century into an inside-the-beltway battle over "ethics reform."

Republicans in Congress and the White House have created the most corrupt government in American history. Tends of billions of dollars have disappeared from the Treasury, no one knows where they have gone - and most shockingly, no one is even investigation grand theft on an unimaginable scale - because Republicans control everything.

Lord Acton was exactly right: all power corrupts, and absolutely power corrupts absolutely.

Republican corruption is not on the margins, limited to a few "bad apples" - it is at the very heart of how they govern. The whole political machine created by Karl Rove, Tom DeLay, Grover Norquist, Ralph Reed, and Jack Abramoff is based on corruption: raising money illegally and spending it illegally, all for the sole purpose of seizing power, stealing as much as they can get their hands on, and manipulating elections to stay in power forever.

You don't have to look far to see massive GOP corruption. Wherever GOP-controlled Washington is spending large sums of money, it is being spent corruptly. Look at Iraq... the Gulf Coast... Medicare... Homeland Security... the NSA... etc. etc. etc.

Now the very same Republicans who corrupted everything in Washington are promising to "reform" it. As Harry Reid said, the idea of Republicans reforming themselves "is like asking John Gotti to clean up organized crime."

Of course the substance of the Republican plan is a farce. As the Pentagon Post reports,

According to lobbyists and ethics experts, even if Hastert's proposal is enacted, members of Congress and their staffs could still travel the world on an interest group's expense and eat steak on a lobbyist's account at the priciest restaurants in Washington.

The only requirement would be that whenever a lobbyist pays the bill, he or she must also hand the lawmaker a campaign contribution. Then the transaction would be perfectly okay.

John Aravosis cuts right through the bushit:

The pigs feeding at the trough aren't going to give up all the freebies. They'll just have the lobbyists feed them and take them on trips through their campaigns.

It's classic GOP bait and switch. They're just going to say that they're doing reform -- but not do it. That fits their pattern. Lobby reform doesn't reform anything, like "Clear Skies" doesn't clean the skies and like "No Child Left Behind" leaves kids behind.

But even though the GOP plan is a farce, the mere fact that they have a document they call a "reform plan" is enough to put them ahead of the corruption scandal for the majority of Americans who get their news from TV. Why? Because Karl Rove controls everything we see on TV.

Haven't Democrats learned that yet??????

I'll be blunt: If Congressional Democrats operate within the framework of "reform," they will not change anything important - and they will not beat Republicans and win a majority in November.

"Reform" used to be a nice liberal word. But since Newt Gingrich began his own version of "reform", the word has become meaningless - or worse. Remember "welfare reform"? That simply meant throwing millions of women and children deeper into poverty. Remember "buget reform"? That simply let the the GOP turn the Clinton-Gore projected surplus of $6 trillion into $3 trillion of debt in just 5 years. (And no, 9/11 did not cause $9 trillion in damage to the U.S. economy - or even $100 billion.) Remember "Social Security reform"? That would have destroyed Social Security, were it not for Josh Marshall's heroic blogging at TalkingPointsMemo.com.

Americans aren't stupid - they know "reform" is meaningless. Congress isn't corrupt because politicians take $50 meals from lobbyists. Changing a few little things won't change anything important. Americans don't want "ethics reform" - they want a political revolution.

So if Democrats want to win back Congress, they must declare - and lead - a Second American Revolution that will end corruption in Washington.

What should that revolution consist of? Here are the main elements:

• Get money out of politics - all of it. Politicians should be prohibited from taking money from anyone for anything. All Congressional races should be publicly funded. Candidates should be given enough to run a decent campaign - say $1 million for House races, and $500,000 per CD for Senate races. That would mean $26.5 million for California, $14.5 million for New York, and $2.5 million for Iowa. (For 1 CD states like Wyoming, I would adjust the Senate amount to $1 million so they get the same amount as a House candidate.) Such a system isn't perfect; if a candidate is personally wealthy (like Mike Bloomberg or Arnold Schwarzenegger), the Supreme Court will allow him or her to spend as much as (s)he wants. But we can live with that exception for the sake of eliminating corruption.
• Fix the legislative process. Special interest "earmarks" must be banned. Bills should be published on the Internet so Members - and citizens - have time to read them. All bills should require public hearings, followed by a week before floor votes. Budgets should be adopted on time, or Members should not get paid. Congressional raises should be prohibited unless the government runs a surplus.
• Require real campaign debates. As a condition of receiving public funds, candidates must agree to four public debates in October - one per week. The debates should be unmoderated to keep journalists from pontificating and promoting their own pet issues - and to force candidates to address each other's arguments. The debates should be carried free and live on local TV channels as a condition of their license.
• Eliminate election fraud. We must ban electronic voting and count votes for Federal elections by hand in public - just as they do in Canada and around the world. Every American citizen should be automatically registered based on the Social Security system (a plan I proposed last September), so officials cannot play games with disenfranchising voters. Election offices at every level (including Secretary of State) should be bi-partisan.
• End gerrrymandering. Create a single national formula for drawing Congressional District lines. Eliminate all election-rigging parameters like party, race, and income. Prohibit mid-decade redistricting.
• Be fair to third parties. A rigid, permanent two-party system is a prescription for corruption and incompetence; third parties need to rise up when the system breaks down. We need reasonable nation-wide criteria for third-party candidacies. We must include third-party candidates in debates. We must use instant runoff voting so voters can choose a third-party candidate without "wasting" their vote.
• Abolish the Electoral College. The President should not be chosen by a handful of voters of one state, whether Florida (2000) or Ohio (2004). Votes in all 50 states and 5 territories should count equally.

This is an ambitious agenda, and it will take work - including Constitutional Amendments - to make it real. But it's exactly what the American people want - and it's long overdue.

Wake up Democrats!! Don't get into a losing battle for meaningless "reform" - demand a Second American Revolution instead!!!!