We’ve got to admit, we got a good laugh out of a story in the Review-Journal on Monday about “reform” efforts being sought by both parties scrambling to claim the rapidly eroding moral high ground occasioned by the most recent round of Republican scandals.

Consider this: Suppose the Democrats hadn’t been in power before the Newt Gingrich “revolution” of 1994, and that they had swept the GOP out of leadership instead. Does anybody think the Democrats wouldn’t have tried to solidify their hold on power in the capital? To advance a “K Street strategy”?

Does anybody doubt that the Democrats would not now be at the center of a series of missteps, crimes and outright corruption that’s plaguing the Republicans?

It seems to us that the only difference with the GOP is the party’s audacity. Tom DeLay allegedly launders money through the party’s national apparatus to get state lawmakers elected in Texas, in order to redraw district lines more favorable to Republicans, in order to elect several more GOP House members, in order to solidify his own grasp on power? That’s Dr. Evil-style big-picture thinking that might elude the other party.

Karl Rove dreams from his youth about so completely altering the political landscape in Washington, D.C. that the Republicans will forever be the majority party, and the Democrats will be on their way to extinction? Privatizing Social Security, the “third rail” of American politics? “Finishing the job” in Iraq? Creating reality, instead of merely living with it, like everybody else? Rove is, if nothing else, outside the box. And getting a man like George W. Bush elected (at least once; 2000 still doesn’t count) shows that Rove has undeniable skills.

Remember back to the days of Democratic control of Congress? The House banking scandal? Jim Wright’s book deals? LBJ’s taxpayer-financed ranch makeovers? Dan Rostenkowski’s corruptions?

Our point: The Democrats are capable of behaving just as unethically as the Republicans.

So, you object, why did you at Various Things & Stuff criticize U.S. Rep. Jon Porter when he made that same point recently? We did it because Porter is part and parcel of the problem, a man who is a tool of the House Republican leadership, who defends the likes of DeLay while slamming the likes of U.S. Sen. Harry Reid. In short, a hypocrite.

But while Porter may be a flawed messenger, his point isn’t lost on us: When Democrats declare, as they did in a news release today, that Republicans cannot be trusted to clean up the culture of corruption, we reply that neither can the Democrats.

In fact, there’s no law you can pass that will prevent someone with the desire to take bribes, to take official action in return for money, to feather his own nest and abandon his public duties from doing exactly that. And before we rush to pass a raft of new “reforms,” perhaps we should consider that we have enough anti-corruption laws on the books as it is.

Sure, banning gifts and free travel offered to lawmakers is a good idea. Sure, more immediate, Internet-style disclosure of campaign contributions is a good idea. But an evil heart won’t be changed by those reforms. That’s for the people to do in the ballot box, or the FBI and the United States attorney to do in the courtroom.

Let’s not forget that a majority lawmakers, perhaps even some who accepted donations from clients of Abramoff, are still good people who still want to serve their nation and their constituents. They don’t get press because lawmakers are supposed to be good people who want to serve their nation and their constituents. The story, as always, are those who failed to do so, or broke the law in the name of doing so.

If the Democrats really want to enact some “reforms,” how about coming up with an agenda to oppose the Republicans? Quite apart from the ethics scandals, the GOP is advancing an agenda that’s bad for the nation, and bad for the world. Here are a few platform planks to get them started:

• Constitutional fealty: No violations of the Bill of Rights will be tolerated in the name of the war on terror. Existing laws and procedures allow us to fight terrorists without abridging our freedoms. Anyone who does violate the Bill of Rights commits a crime against the Constitution, and is unfit to serve in an office of trust or profit under the United States.

• No optional war: This nation will go to war only when its citizens are threatened, and not for any other reason. And that war will be based on solid evidence, transparently shared with the American people. We reserve the right to defend ourselves from future threats, but we also pledge to work with the rest of the civilized world to achieve the best state of peace we can obtain.

• An end to corporate coddling of crony capitalists: Every person, every corporation, in the nation is expected to pay his or its fair share of taxes. Welfare programs will be reserved for those who truly need help, not giant businesses that make billions.

• An less arrogant, good-neighbor posture in the world: America is the leader of the free world, and by virtue of that position has an obligation to help the rest of the world. That means more humanitarian aid and fewer invasions, more living by example and fewer lectures. We’d decrease hatred of our country by showing that we don’t want to run the world, we just want to be part of it. (And we ignore that global hatred at our peril.)

• An era of responsibility: Not since John F. Kennedy has a president truly asked for sacrifice from the American people, or asked them to consider something beyond themselves. It’s time one of the political parties reminded the country of why it pays taxes, and what those taxes buy in the world.

That should get the Democrats started, if they’re listening. And one more thing: The corruption of Washington D.C. goes far beyond the antics of DeLay and Abramoff: There’s a crisis of vision that needs to be exorcized from the capital, too. And somebody — maybe even a Republican — needs to address that right away.