Ben Carson is probably best known for his work as a neurosurgeon, but in recent months he has become a conservative firebrand and today he offered some controversial red meat to the audience at the Values Voter Summit in Washington.

Carson, who is a contributor to Fox News, assailed president Obama's health care law, saying it is akin to slavery.

"I have to tell you, you know Obamacare is really, I think, the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery," Carson said. "And it is slavery in a way because it is making all of us subservient to the government."

Carson, who is African American, went on to say that the administration's push toward Obamacare is reminiscent to a push toward socialism.

"It was never about health care, it was about control," Carson said. "That's why when this administration took office it didn't matter that the country was going off the cliff economically. All forces were directed toward getting this legislation passed.

"Vladimir Lenin, one of the fathers of Socialism and Communism, said that socialized medicine is the keystone to the establishment of the socialist state," he added.

No stranger to controversy, Carson earlier this year apologized to John Hopkins University, where he is a physician, for comparing homosexuality to bestiality and pedophilia during an appearance on Fox News.