Dear Shocked Maga Voter,

If you identify as Republican, conservative, or middle-of-the-road, and you are surprised, shocked, disheartened or just plain disturbed and upset by recent events, you have come to right place.

We are very glad you are here. We are grateful for your taking the time to see what we are about. We hope you come to understand us better after looking this over, and that perhaps you will recognize some of your own thinking in what we say about ourselves.

We are your family, your friends, and your coworkers. Our group includes public servants, Federal workers, veterans, and a variety of professionals, united in our love for our country and its people, and committed to compassionate advocacy for democracy. We truly believe our country is the greatest nation on earth. We love what it offers its citizens and how it can lead the world by example, and we are proud to be Americans.

We are just like you. We are patriots who believe in individual dignity, personal responsibility, respect for all people, fair enforcement of the law, and creating opportunities for more Americans to succeed. We believe that all Americans deserve to be happy, healthy, safe, and prosperous. 

We also feel it's important that the government be accountable to its people. We want to trust our nation's leaders to represent us, respect us, and listen to us. We want to admire our leaders and feel good about the decisions they make. We want to believe they have American citizens' best interests in mind.

Unfortunately, we have had to start questioning the things that we see happening around us and the things we see happening to our fellow Americans, and in some cases, even beyond our borders. We are second guessing the good intentions of our leaders. We are concerned about the health of democracy, the rule of law, and the constitution. 

This is not comfortable for many of us. As patriots, we want to feel proud of our country and to live in a peaceful, easy way. However, we also believe that true Americans do not stay quiet when we feel something is wrong with our country or wrong for its citizens. 

And so, even though we don't necessarily want to think of ourselves as protestors, we are left with no other choice but to try to make our voices heard, even though it is uncomfortable, unpopular, or even feels unsafe at times, for the love of our country and for the love of its people. All Americans deserve to have a voice that is heard, and we are doing our best to speak up. If you can relate to any of this, please know you are in the right place.

Bringing concerns to our leaders isn't easy, and it's even harder when you are unsupported by some of your fellow Americans because you have been told different versions of stories about the same events. The health of our country relies on our ability to make informed decisions, which requires us to have a common understanding of reality. Widespread political misperceptions have made this incredibly challenging. It has led so many of us to draw conclusions and believe things far from what we would have if we were correctly informed; far from what the "real us" would think or want. Instead of using the truth to work together toward common solutions for our country, we find ourselves in arguments with one another, both misunderstanding each other and feeling misunderstood, convinced we have been told the truth and that the "other side" is thwarting progress toward what our country should be. We see one another as the problem instead of bringing a united vision to our leaders and insisting they make the changes we all believe in.

We believe that truth is strength and unchecked bias is weakness. We believe this is the foundation our country needs to reach the greatness we all know it holds. To this end, we are working to avoid misinformation and correct it where we can, starting with ourselves. We are trying to avoid information "echo chambers", and instead looking for centrist and "both sides" news sources. We are doing our best to remember that the media thrives on sensationalism, which pits Americans against each other by focusing on differences instead of sameness. 

We know Americans are not one another's enemies, and that we hold many of the same values and beliefs. We also work to remember that in many ways the differences we do have are good, that they make us stronger, and we do our best to view them positively even when they are challenging. We remind ourselves that the truth is more important to us than any agenda or our pride. We know this can disarm unnecessary arguments and help us move forward in a way that aligns with our common values and is in everyone's best interests. We work to stay willing to change our minds when we are presented with new information.

We want you to know that we are aware it's an uphill fight, largely because of rampant misinformation in the media, but we believe it's a worthwhile one. We believe it's necessary, as patriots, as people who love our country and its people, to try to do what we believe is the right thing for the right reason. We want to be able to have productive discussions about this with our fellow Americans, and to work together to make the changes we all believe in. We need each other. Our diversity of thought and experiences as Americans from all walks of life are the checks and balances that are so important to our country's well-being and health. Our similarities in values and beliefs and our shared vision are the strength and solidarity that will steer our nation to the place we all want it to be.

—Rebeccah, on behalf of Fearless