(Editor's note: This is part four of a four-part interview with Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz held on Thursday. Read part one: Cruz fires back at Romney: 'This is why we keep losing' and part two: Cruz: Abortion videos are game-changers and part three: Cruz: Obama has 'massive hostility' to religious liberty)

WASHINGTON – The questions don't come much bigger.

In essence, it was: Is this last chance to save America as we know it?

Some might find the answer chilling.

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WND asked Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas: If the Democrats win the White House again in 2016, will it be too late to prevent the country from turning into a permanent social-welfare state, and will it be the end of American exceptionalism?

"I do believe, with this election – it's now or never," was his succinct and foreboding response.

Why?

"The threats to our liberty have never been greater," Cruz began to explain.

First, he addressed the immediate threat to all Americans.

"In just six-and-a-half years we've gone from $10-trillion in debt to over $18-trillion. Our debt is larger than the size of our entire economy."

Then he referred to threats stemming from the political weaponization of the IRS and Justice Department under President Obama, including the targeting of conservatives for their political beliefs, as well as the targeting of religious individuals and institutions over objections to Obamacare provisions and same-sex marriage, and government spying by the NSA and Justice Department.

"We've seen the federal government assaulting our constitutional rights across the board: our free speech; our religious liberties; our right to keep and bear arms; our privacy."

Then Cruz looked at the big picture, the threat to the country's national security because of the loss of its global standing.

"We have seen America recede from leadership in the world. We have abandoned our friends and allies. And our enemies across the globe have all gotten stronger. Radical Islamic terrorism is on the rise and Iran is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons. These are the direct consequences of the failed Obama-Clinton foreign policy."

"I believe this next election is now or never," he reiterated, in case anyone missed the point.

"If we continue down this path four or eight more years, we risk doing permanent damage to the greatest nation in the history of the world."

At the same time, Cruz said he was "profoundly optimistic. As dire as the threats are, they are simultaneously waking up millions of Americans."

"I believe where we are today is very much like the late 1970's. The parallels between Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter are uncanny and, in my judgment, 2016 is going to be an election like 1980. I agree with Ronald Reagan: The way we win and the way we turn the country around is to paint in bold colors and not in pale pastels."

WND observed that the senator has sounded the alarm over the corrupting influence of big money in politics, but that was usually a Democratic criticism, so what was his solution?

He began by targeting both parties, saying the "Washington cartel" is how he describes career politicians in both parties "who get in bed with lobbyists and special interests that grow and grow and grow government."

Cruz said Americans were told things would be different if Republicans could capture the House of Representatives, which they did in in 2010 when "millions of us rose up" but the end result was that very little changed.

He said Americans were then told the problem was the Senate and the stranglehold on power wielded by then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and, indeed, millions of Americans rose up again and won an historic victory with one of the largest majorities in the House since the 1920's.

"And, in just over six months, what has the new Republican majority done? The first thing we did after the election was join with Harry Reid in passing a trillion-dollar Cromnibus plan filled with corporate welfare and pork. Then the Republican majority voted to fund Obamacare, to fund President Obama's unconstitutional executive amnesty, and to fund Planned Parenthood. And then the Republican leadership forced through the confirmation of Loretta Lynch as attorney general."

The bottom line? Nothing had changed.

"Every one of those decisions was identical to what would have happened under Harry Reid and the Democrats," lamented the senator.

But something was made clear.

"Indeed, it is for that reason that I refer to leadership as the McConnell-Reid leadership team. It is not two separate parties, it is one party – the party of Washington."

Cruz then referred to a recent "epic battle" on the Senate floor over the Export-Import Bank which he characterized as "a quintessential example of corporate welfare and cronyism, with hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer-funded loan guarantees given out to a handful of giant corporations."

As WND reported at the time, it was during this floor fight on July 24, that Cruz felt compelled to break with Senate protocol and accuse Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., of lying to him and 54 other GOP senators, when he denied making a deal with Democrats that would give him their votes for a massive trade deal in return for bringing up a vote to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank.

A fed-up Cruz charged that once the GOP assumed power over both Houses of Congress, leadership promptly did the opposite of the promises they made to get elected.

"In this fight, Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid were arm in arm. Both fighting to grow government, because the Washington cartel depends on the contributions from the K Street lobbyists, those giant corporations write checks to both Democrats and Republicans."

The senator said, not only did the GOP leaders help Democrats increase the size of government, they actually turned against the conservative agenda that got them elected.

"Republican leadership blocked my amendment to end sanctuary cities.Blocked my amendment to defund Planned Parenthood. Blocked my amendment to end the congressional exemption for Obamacare. Republican leadership isn't listening the the priorities of millions of grassroots conservatives who elected us into the majority. Instead, they listen to the bipartisan corruption of Washington."

Cruz said the way to fix the Washington cartel was to make a change at the top.

"In modern times, we have seen before, an elected official who defeated the Washington cartel. In the late 1970's and 1980 Ronald Reagan took on the Washington cartel. Washington despised Reagan, it's worth remembering. Reagan had primaried Gerald Ford in 1976. If you want to tick off Republican leadership, come within inches of beating the incumbent Republican president in a primary."

The Texan recalled that the Gipper did not "sit down with the old bulls in Congress and tell Republicans, 'C'mon guys, you gotta stand for something.'"

"He knew that would be hopeless because the cartel, then and now, was not listening to the American people – it was listening to the lobbyists in Washington. Instead, Ronald Reagan took to his case to the American people. And the grassroots rose up and millions of men and women across this country became the Reagan revolution."

"And it transformed this country. We went from economic stagnation to booming economic growth. We went from our hostages languishing in Iran to winning the Cold War. And it was all because the grassroots rose up in such overwhelming numbers. The career politicians in Washington could not stand up against the mandate from the people," said Cruz.

The man who would be president said he is "encouraged and optimistic because the same thing is happening again all across this country. Millions of Americans are rising up across this country and saying enough is enough. 'We're tired of the corruption and we're tired of politicians who say one thing and do another. We want leaders who will tell the truth and do what they said that would do. We want leaders who will fight for liberty and the Constitution. And we want leaders who have demonstrated they will take on the Washington cartel.'"

Cruz charged that there are a lot of "campaign conservatives" in Washington, politicians who sound conservative on the campaign trail then get into office and don't follow through on their commitments.

"I believe the Republican primary voters are looking for a consistent conservative who's demonstrated he'll stand up not just to the Democrats, that's easy. But who's demonstrated he will stand up to his own party, to the Republican leadership, to the Washington cartel."

The senator implied there was a steep price to pay for sticking to conservative principles in Washington.

"Whenever you do that, just like Reagan in 1980, you are vilified. You are vilified by Democrats, you are vilified by Republicans, you are vilified by the mainstream media."

But he also saw sticking to one's guns as the best and only hope for real change, as evidenced by Reagan's successful game plan for reform.

"The only way we will defeat the Washington cartel is if it comes from the grassroots, if it comes from 'We the People.'"

Cruz said he had seen evidence of building momentum for change in his campaign fundraising that had far exceeded all expectations.

"Just two weeks ago, every Republican candidate for president filed their fundraising reports. Out of 60 campaigns, the one that raised the most hard money was our campaign. We raised $14.3 million. In second place was Jeb Bush at $11.4 million. Now, if I were to suggest three months ago that our campaign was going to out-raise every other campaign in the field, including Jeb Bush, you would have thought I was absolutely nuts. I would have thought I was absolutely nuts."

And going into Thursday's crucial debate with the other GOP frontrunners, that gives Cruz great hope a conservative can prevail again.

"That is what happened in 1980 in the Reagan Revolution. It came from the grassroots and it's why I am encouraged today, because I see the same thing happening. Millions of men and women who are convinced we will turn this country around."

Follow Garth Kant @DCgarth