THE MORE THINGS CHANGE, THE MORE THEY DON’T:

Have you noticed yet how so many Washington politicians and bureaucrats are ignoring the last election?

Voters tossed Republicans out of congressional power last November and gave it to Democrats promising to clean up the culture of corruption epitomized by anonymous earmarks, well-connected lobbyists and other influence peddlers.

But the truth is nothing much really has changed and isn’t likely to anytime soon, regardless of which party is in power. Many in the Washington establishment — Democrats and Republicans, elected officials and career civil servants — are determined to keep right on fleecing the American people as if the election never happened.

The Democrats have all but abandoned their campaign promises. Now they hide behind a cynical veil of excuse and delay. The Senate and House approved earmark and other ethics reforms earlier this year. Yet nobody now seems interested in working out differences between the two reform packages, so the new rules can go into effect.

It’s as if those promises to clean things up were just cynical campaign slogans.