In recent decades, however, Cruz said he’s seen the United States follow the path toward socialism, and worried that recent developments meant American freedom may soon be threatened.

“When I lost my freedom in Cuba, I had a place to come to,” he said. “If we lose our freedoms here, where are we going to go? You know something? There is no place to go.”

Recent movement in some states and by the Supreme Court advancing gay rights and allowing same-sex marriage is part of a plot to undermine the traditional family structure and eliminate religion, clearing the way for a socialist state in which government is worshipped as a god, he said.

“Socialism requires that government becomes your god,” he said. “That’s why they have to destroy the concept of God. They have to destroy all loyalties except loyalty to government. That’s what’s behind homosexual marriage.”

President Barack Obama’s signature Affordable Care Act, he added, will kill the older Americans.

“Let me tell you, our lives are under attack. —” he said. “Obamacare is going to destroy the elderly by denying care, by even perhaps denying treatment to people who are in catastrophic circumstances.”