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Just hours after laying out his political future, Rick Santorum warned that the country is "engaged in an ideological war" and Americans need to fight against it "at a time when our country needs us."

"We have a time in our country where we are not at war in the sense of a global war where we are all engaged like we were in World War Two to save our country," Santorum said at his address to CPAC Chicago. "We're engaged in an ideological war here in America and we have a president who is leading that charge and is a committed advocate of transforming America and its very foundation."

Santorum told the audience that he's "not asking you to put on a uniform," but "we are asking you to put on the cloak of citizenship."

Friday morning, Santorum launched a new group focused on conservative issues and supporting like-minded candidates, "Patriot Voices." His goal is bring together one million conservatives to promote the topics he focused on the campaign: social conservative faith and family issues as well as preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, and repealing the president's health care plan.

It's clear from his speech today as well as the launch of the group, he's trying to position himself as the de facto leader of the nation's social conservatives.

In his speech Santorum repeated many of the themes and even the language he used on the campaign trail. He said he would try to "speak for the people who don't have a voice" and "who aren't part of either narrative of either party, folks who understand what makes America tick and who aren't afraid to tell the truth."

In talking about the people he wants to advocate for he said both parties are to blame for leaving some Americans feeling abandoned. Santorum said as a presidential candidate he "brought them into the discussion and it made all the difference for me in understanding how America really works."

"Republicans talking about cutting taxes and growing the economy or Democrats talking about providing for people and making them more dependent," Santorum said, castigating both major parties. "The folks in the middle, the 70 percent of Americans who don't go to college feel like no one is talking to them. What about them and opportunities for them…what about training for them and educational opportunities for them so than can succeed and provide for their families.

"They may not want to be the richest people in the world because they don't measure richness in money. They measure it in other things like coaching Little League and being there to teach Sunday School and that's a valuable deployment of their resources."

The former Pennsylvania senator said he will "travel around the country campaigning for people who share those values and are committed to make a difference."

He said despite no longer being a contender for the nomination this race is "still the most important election in the history of our country" and urged the audience to join him at Patriot Voices.

Just before he walked on to the stage, the group sent out their first mail to supporters asking them to be one of the first to join the group.

Santorum also praised Gov. Scott Walker's win in Wisconsin earlier this week saying the nation needs more leaders who have the "courage to stand up" and tell the truth.

"He told the truth and he followed through and people followed," Santorum said. "People in this country are looking for leaders who will be honest with them, who confront these issues."

Santorum added he "feels a little bit better" about the November election after the Wisconsin results.

Santorum's friend and major donor to his superPAC, Foster Friess opened up the Conservative Political Action Conference in Chicago and introduced Santorum. Missing his trademark white cowboy hat, Friess repeated many of these same themes saying the country is experiencing "spiritual poverty."