Sure, the power-seeking politician recognizes the unpopularity of pork-barrel spending, the wastefulness. But, you see, the politician benefits. He or she grows more powerful with each big check sent to some people using others' money. So the politician embraces reform, yes; talks reform, sure; even passes reform, of course . . . but makes very certain that there is no reform.

If you're a regular, everyday citizen (or a citizen-legislator like Coburn), on the other hand, you see earmarks as blatantly wasteful spending performed in as corrupting a method as imaginable this side of treason. As Senator Coburn put it:

Earmarks have been at the heart of recent scandals that have sent members of Congress to prison and brought others under investigation. It is no coincidence that as the lobbying industry doubled in size since 2000 so did the amount of money Congress spent on earmarks. The problem in Washington is not the lobbyists. The problem is members of Congress who send earmarks to special interests, and even family members, in an effort to stay in office or feather their own nest.

Last year at this time, the Republican Congress sported an approval rating of 19 percent. The public loathing Republicans engendered stemmed in no small part from their business-as-usual (or even business-run-amok) attitude toward pork. And voters sent enough of them packing last November to snatch away their majority status. (I have heard few regrets expressed.)

Thus one might expect voters to be more appreciative of this relatively new Democratic Congress — especially with all their landmark legislation. One would be mistaken. The Democratic Congress recently garnered a five-point lower approval rating than the vanquished old Republican Congress. The Democrats' 14 percent approval rating is, in fact, the lowest in the history of the Gallup Poll, which began back in 1973.

The American people aren't fooled. The Democrats refusal to enact real reform is only one more exhibit of a sick political system. Given a way to choose something other than the career politician-dominated system, the people will do so in a New York minute.

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma identifies earmarks as "the gateway drug to federal spending addiction." A Washington Examiner editorial recently compared the behavior of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on the ethics legislation to "an addict condemning drugs as he heads to the back room to shoot up again."

Well, I guess it's nice to know there's no longer smoke in those back rooms. Some reform.