I’ve been a Republican all my life–a loyal Republican. The problem is, our party has not been loyal to its own principles. That is why I am running for the United States Senate.

The Republican Party faces an identity crisis. What do we really stand for? Conservatives within the party, like myself, believe we should re-embrace the Constitution and stand unapologetically for the divinely-inspired American Idea of individual liberty, limited government, and free-market values.

The GOP establishment, on the other hand, believes we should stand simply for the letter “R.” They claim that America’s problems will be solved if we just elect more people with Rs behind their names, but their own history shows otherwise.

Since the Reagan Revolution gave way to the “kinder, gentler” GOP (translation: surrender Republicans), conservative victories have been few and fleeting. Even the 1994 Contract with America is no exception. Within six years, the cumulative budget of the 95 major government programs slated for elimination had increased by thirteen percent. And that’s when spending really took off.

The harsh realities of the 2000s give lie to the current GOP establishment claims. Voters gave Republicans the White House, the House of Representatives, the Senate, and even the Supreme Court, and what did we get in return? The largest expansion of spending, borrowing, regulations, and debt our nation had ever seen. These Republicans–who call themselves conservatives–delivered the largest expansion of government in the history of America until Barack Obama came along.

The GOP establishment claimed in the 2000s that we were on the verge of a permanent Republican majority if we would just coopt the Democrats’ issues (translation: surrender to Democrats). And so, it was the GOP establishment that gave us the largest expansion of Medicare in the history of the program. It was the GOP establishment that gave us “No Bureaucrat Left Behind” for our schools. It was the GOP establishment that gave us the bank bailouts. And it was the GOP establishment that opened the White House doors for Barack Obama.

The letter “R” did not save America.

Today, America is in serious trouble because the establishment members of the GOP have, at best, proven themselves ineffective at stopping the Democrats’ unbridled expansion of government. In reality, these Republicans have been complicit with tax hikes, earmark spending, endless borrowing, and debt ceiling increases.

I am running for the United States Senate with the courage of conviction that the Constitution and the American Idea are not only the last best hope for America but also our path to return to greatness. I’m challenging Sen. Pat Roberts, who has been in Washington for 46 years. He calls himself a conservative but has voted for tax hikes, earmark spending, debt ceiling increases–eleven times!–and even voted to put Kathleen Sebelius in charge of ObamaCare. Sen. Roberts has been in Washington so long that earlier this year when he voted for Barack Obama’s $600 billion tax hike, he actually tried to sell it as “tax relief.”

This senate race in Kansas exemplifies the larger choice that the Republican Party faces. Is it enough to call yourself a Republican or even call yourself a conservative but still vote with and give aid and comfort to the Democrats whose singular mission is to expand government?

America’s fate hangs in the balance, and so does yours. As government expands, liberty contracts. And as liberty slips away little by little, prosperity contracts as well. We are witnessing this in America today. As the government reaches deeper into your doctor’s visit, into your gas tank, into your mortgage, into your children’s school, and into the rest of your life, it also reaches deeper into your paycheck and deeper still into your prospects for a better future.

Freedom itself is the most powerful engine of prosperity in human history. That’s the American story. Those poor souls throughout the ages who have been denied freedom have suffered immeasurably, and it does not matter if it was taken from them by force or voluntarily surrendered upon the altar of false utopian promises. History remains unmistakable: Freedom works. And yet, the GOP establishment cannot summon the courage or demonstrate the ability to effectively fight for it.

I will.

President Ronald Reagan understood our enduring struggle for freedom and fearlessly fought for it. Of the Republicans in the Congress, he famously wrote in his diary: “We had rabbits when we needed tigers.”

Indeed, we still do.

Dr. Milton Wolf is a constitutional conservative and practicing physician running for the United States Senate in Kansas. His website is miltonwolf.com. Follow him at @miltonwolfmd.