Mark Segal: Hillary's email and the Republican rat hole

It was just a few month ago that Republicans promised the American people that if they were given control of Congress they would work to end the log jam and noise coming from Washington and bring order.

Well they have been in control less than 90 days and during that time they have held the U.S. Treasury hostage and almost left some federal workers without pay checks in order to fight President Obama's Immigration policy.  Then they actually brought a foreign head of state into a joint meeting of Congress to lecture and insult the President from Capitol Hill.  Add to that, 47 Senators that the New York Daily News called "Traitors," tried to circumvent the President's attempts to stop Iran from getting a nuclear bomb.

Here's the funny part. While the Republican Senators don't want the President in talks with Iranian leaders, they wrote to the Iranian leaders themselves. And funnier yet, while they labeled the Iranian leaders dictators they stated in their letter that some of them will still be in power in the U.S. Senate when President Obama is gone--decades from now!

If that were not enough, enter the Republican favorite target, Hillary Clinton, and her email while Secretary of State.

Let's look at it point by point.

Was Clinton right to use one email account for both personal and State department business? She followed the rules and did not break any law. But it was a mistake, and one that might be better addressed by voters, not politicians. That being said, let's move on.

Were her emails secure on her own server?  Yes, more so then State Department communications.  Hers were on a secure server used by a former President and guarded by Secret Service. You might recall the State Department's email and cables were leaked by a guy named Edward Snowden. Then there's this point: No one at State Department or in the White House asked her to change her email practices, and everyone who received an email could clearly see it was not a .gov account.

Congressional Republicans and some cable news talking heads now want to see her personal email. Think about that. Do any of us want to have our personal email made public? Here some will add, "but she was a public official!"  Yes, and all public officials have a right to keep their personal email private.  Put another way, even if she used the State Department server she still would have had the right to keep her personal email account.  So is this debate about getting her personal emails?  Do any of us want to open that door?  Or should we demand private email from all possible presidential candidates, especially those who have held government office.

There is a solution to this debate.

From this point on, any elected official or media talking head who demands to see Hillary's personal emails must first make their own personal email public. For Sen. Lindsay Graham, who says he doesn't use email, he can release his personal texts.

We really don't want to see Graham's texts, and I certainly don't want to see any of the personal texts or emails of any of the possible candidates for president.  What I want is a more civil approach to governing by those in Washington.  Get out of the clown car and start legislating, as you promised.

Mark Segal, PGN publisher, is the nation's most-award-winning commentator in LGBT media. You can follow him on Facebook  or Twitter @PhilaGayNews.