Take Back Rally Set for Friday in Greenville

Nathan Leupp expected his fellow Republicans to be outraged when, in June, the Supreme Court upheld the Affordable Care Act (a/k/a ObamaCare) and overturned portions of Arizona’s Immigration Law. The cases were at the heart of many conservatives’ dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs.

Leupp, a self-described conservative activist, called several friends to see what was being planned in protest. To his surprise, there were no plans.

Leupp convened representatives from the many conservative groups in the Upstate and began planning a rally. The result is Friday’s Take Our Country Back 2012 at the Plaza in front of the Bi-Lo Center. The event begins at 5 p.m., with speakers starting at 6. Scheduled to speak are Sen. Jim DeMint, Reps. Jeff Duncan, Trey Gowdy, Mick Mulvaney and Tim Scott and South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson

The first speaker , and once he agreed to appear, the rest of the roster fell into place pretty quickly, according to Leupp.

In addition to the politicians, Harry Kibler of RINO Hunt will speak as will Tracy Walsh.

will sing.

When he was considering how to organize the event Leupp knew he would have to keep at bay the many egos and strong personalities that make up the conservative movement in the Upstate. But, that hasn’t been a problem. “We’ve had no issues with getting along,” Leupp said

The rally “isn’t about a particular candidate,” Leupp said. “There is a lot of overlap between supporters of DeMint and Ron Paul, so that made it easier.”

The event is free of charge and is being financed by its roughly 50 sponsors.

Many of the same people who helped Leupp with organizing were involved in the April 2009 rally that was one of the first Tea Party rallies in the state, if not the country. 

“We were ready to yell at our computers (in response to the Supreme Court’s rulings) and we need an outlet,” Leupp said.