Reporter for The Atlantic, Conor Friedersdorf wrote a request to readers for questions they would like posed to GOP Presidential Primary candidates:
If you could pose one earnest question to any of the Republican candidates, what would it be? (No insults disguised as questions allowed.)
While I have a variety of issues with how this is filtered (which I will list below as a preface for my questions), I do think it's worthwhile to at least provide options, even if I don't think they will be taken.
Caveats
While I fully believe Conor'a good intentions in the request, it isn't nearly as open-ended as I expect he believed it to be.
The first and most obvious filter is that this request will only be seen by those who read The Atlantic. This filter is nearly unavoidable, beyond his control, but nonetheless results in self-selection for a particular type of potential voter: questions will reflect concerns of high information, high engagement, more centrist, higher educated voters, which means more likely in urban population centers in a coastal state.
The next filter is in the repeated rejoinders to the potential petitioner to be polite and respectful, underscoring for the previously mentioned self-selection of voters (who tend towards extreme distaste for the GOP) to not express this animosity. While I doubt the effectiveness of it (if you're going to send an insult or ask a non-earnest question, being asked not to is unlikely to dissuade you), it will encourage responses from those who agree that this reminder is important and necessary: questions which reflect petitioners who feel reporters (and the electorate) need to be more polite and respectful towards the GOP, who are too often subjected to chastisement and invectives instead of relevant policy questions.
The final filter of relevance is the person who put the request out and will be the one to evaluate them for how successfully the questions have been filtered for the above. Questions which do not fall into those categories will be filtered out both before being submitted (by those who do not expect them to be posed anyways) and after being submitted (by Conor for not being worth posing).
The missing filters, the most important filters that ought to be applied (and likely will not) are importance and likelihood of being answered. Recognizing that every GOP candidate has already been subjected to a plethora of questions would suggest the difficulty is not in identifying things to ask, but in asking things that are likely to change how they are viewed in a substantial way (which represents a very small subset of previously-posed questions). Similarly, GOP candidates, in particular, are known for their willingness to discard previous positions, answers, and policies, in favor of the currently-beneficial response. So, a question that will get a useful answer would need to be one that they have a reason to answer.
My questions below are focused primarily on the missing filters, with the understanding that it will likely be ignored due to either the second or third filter in favor of questions that do not address the missing filters.
Questions
Question 1 - On August 24th of 2020, the GOP released a 10-point statement saying that, in lieu of a new policy platform, the Republican Party is defined by its enthusiastic support of President Donald Trump and whatever policies he supports, even though the media insists otherwise.
WHEREAS, The RNC enthusiastically supports President Trump and continues to reject the policy positions of the Obama-Biden Administration, as well as those espoused by the Democratic National Committee today; therefore, be it RESOLVED, That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda;
When the media describes a Republican as opposing Trump's post-election attempts to ensure he remained president: by not providing additional votes in Georgia that he requested, by not appointing state electors he endorsed, by not decertifying state results as he indicated, by not supporting January 6th protestors and their attempts to directly reach and petition Senators and House Representatives, is the media wrong to call these officials Republicans while they openly reject the GOP platform?
Question 2 (not for Vivek, though it could be re-worded as an outside-looking-in question for him) - You are a man/woman of faith, and your faith provides the basis for your morality. As potential leader of the United Sates, your morality will have direct and indirect impacts on the lives of others around the world: direct, via your actions, and indirect via your public witness. In addition, there are prominent voices in the Republican Party which push for a more explicit inclusion of the Christian witness from Republican politicians, citing Donald Trump's example. Does the Republican Party under Donald Trump reflect your vision for Christianity in the United States? 100 years from now, which elements of Christian morality that the GOP has demonstrated since he became the head of the party in 2016 would you like to become touchstones of the religion? And what would you do as President to further his vision of Christianity?