In an interview with Texas Tribune reporter Jay Root, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), now a 2016 presidential candidate, answered several questions on a vast array of topics, including responding to people who compare him to Barack Obama, climate change, the use of personal email for government business, marijuana legalization, and same-sex marriage.

When it comes to the latter two subjects, Cruz says he is a strong supporter of states' rights, and will defend a state's right to decide their own policies on these issues even at the expense of his own personal views.

'I don’t support drug legalization, but I do support the Constitution,' [Cruz] said. 'I think individual states can choose to adopt it. So if Texas had it on the ballot, I’d vote against it, but I respect the authority of states to follow different policies.' Cruz made a similar argument about gay marriage. 'If you can convince your fellow citizens that it’s good for the families, it's good for the state of Texas to change its marriage laws, then Texas has the constitutional power to do so,' he said on gay marriage legalization. 'But it is not legitimate for an unelected federal judge to impose his or her policy preferences because they disagree with the citizens of the state of Texas.'"

Media talking heads have spent a considerable amount of time speculating over what impact Cruz's campaign will actually have, but Cruz also made headlines on Tuesday because the presidential candidate said he would sign up for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act (colloquially known as Obamacare), a law he continues to blast as government overreach and a failure.

"In a separate CNN interview on Tuesday, Cruz said he would sign up for health care under the Affordable Health Care Act. He said his family will likely sign up for a new insurance policy through the U.S. Senate, which is part of the federal exchange. Even so, Cruz had harsh words for the law, and pointed to it as a means for him to engage young voters. “It is a massive wealth transfer from young, healthy people to everybody else," Cruz said."

Cruz advocated a government shutdown in 2013 as part of his desire to see the health care reform law repealed.

Read the full coverage of the Texas Tribune interview here.

Photo Source: TNS