[Jamie89]

Originally Posted by Maru

I understand that feeling. The problem is the precedent has already been set. Other presidents prior have released their records with little to no complaint and for that reason the people and the media feel entitled to these records... (such as tax records)

It's been discussed in another thread, but basically the US presidency is a very physically demanding job. It's taxing on the healthiest person and despite there being fallbacks (vice presidents), it is considered to be a sensitive position and that the individual who takes the position needs to be fit enough (and qualified enough) to handle the requirements of the job.

That said, the US presidency is one of the most important offices in the world (for better or worse...). Therefore having a president die or have to quit mid-term could become a major issue for the US. Especially if we are in the middle of touchy negotiations abroad. If Trump or Hillary actually do do their jobs and somehow fix an ineffective congress, then having them stay on board for four years getting the congress to function properly would mean tremendous progress in this country. Having a president quit or die midterm would be a terrible distraction not to mention, slow any progress we try to make. (and may end up breaking deals already made)

In short, privacy is a not a luxury of the presidency and is not considered to be a right for those running in the public in the US. When there's incidents that are occur here in public that involve the mentally ill with police for example and the police say it is justified in the records, then those dealings are usually demanded by the public and the media in order to provide some kind transparency... it's just how our culture works and unfortunately how our media works. We demand transparency 24/7 and we don't treat political positions the same as private citizens.

I agree to some extent, it is getting ridiculous the amount of emphasis they are placing on medical records versus say... the facts and positions that politicians are actually running on... that's the state of our political atmosphere and if it wasn't medical records, it would be tax records... or phone records... or email records... that's just the nature of our political system.

I get what your saying, I still don't entirely see the need for it if I'm being completely honest, but if it's a fair playing field and the same rule applies for everyone then that's all fair enough really. I suppose the thing that's bothered me about all the health talk is the way I feel it's been used to drive an agenda unfairly against one of the candidates, rather than it being about politics. That's the way it's appeared to me anyway. It's all been turned into just another thing to distract from the politics and make this election appear even more of a farce