In Spring Arbor, Carson accused critics of over-sensitivity: “I have no interest in being like everybody else and giving away all of our values and principles for the sake of political correctness,” he said.”There is such a thing as an American dream and the American way. Anybody is welcome to come to America, but they don’t get to change who we are.”

As examples, he pointed to Sharia law, a diverse system of religious rules followed by some Muslim societies, arguing that it oppresses women and treats them like “chattel.” “We do not want to import that type of ideology into America,” he declared.

Carson also denounced the frequent Democrat assertion that Republicans are waging a “war on women” by advocating limits on reproductive health care, dismissing the idea as “phony” and talking about the powerful role women have played in his own life.