Do you think the tea party discredits libertarians?

Lady, the problem that you have with the "Tea Party" is that by nature, they are not run by anyone. This makes it very difficult to denounce people who either criticize, or falsely associate themselves with the "Tea Part". But, if you have a leader, or leadership committee than you take away the "grass roots" sense where they came from. This is how you get the republicans claiming that they are "Tea Party" members, when no one really knows who is, or isn't a member. I do think that the main stream republicans have watered down the tea party, and the last election really hurt the tea party because so many members abandoned the party to vote for Romney, who was no where near a tea party candidate. Ron Paul was the closest thing to a tea party candidate, and was a true Libertarian. But, the only thing that republicans fear more than Obama is Libertarians!!!!

the people and media should know better who are the real libertarians. they should not confuse the people. the tea party has made its mark, and can not claim to be anything else but tea party. that's what it is. and it does not need to be anything else because it has proven to have a force behind its activism. whether we agree with it or not, tea party is a welcome force in a democratic setting.

I think the tea party started largely as a libertarian movement and, once it became popular, a lot of big government republicans latched on, thus diluting the message. When you have people like Michelle Bachmann claiming they speak for the Tea Party, you know any hope of appearing libertarian is going down the tubes. When you get to the fringe, you will ALWAYS get people who don't know what they're talking about. That's why they're on the fringe. Left wingers will always highlight the fringe right and the right will always highlight the fringe left. What's important is that the mainstream people make sure to distance themselves from such people. Failing to do so allows their opponents to identify the fringe as mainstream. That's what happened when the left failed to condemn the pro-rape, pro-violence, pro-vandalism occutards. A buddy of mine in New Hampshire stressed that the Occupy protests there were great and peaceful. He later wanted nothing to do with the Occupy protests because the movement as a whole chose never to condemn the criminal acts of its members.

When libertarians and the Tea Party come up in a discussion, they're generally addressed as two separate entities. This would imply that the Tea Party is considered different from Libertarianism, so it likely has no effect on the libertarian movement.

Your first statment is YOUR opinion. The Tea Party is simply citizens who want limited government, lower taxes, fiscal responsibility from our government. So how does THAT platform discredit libertarians? That is what started the movement, when Bush was president. There were Republicans, Libertarians, and unaffiliated individuals making up the Tea Party going against the big government ideas of Bush. People got sick and tired of being lied to and used by government. This last election divided many within the conservative movement. Ron Paul did not appeal to the establishment Republicans and some of the unaffiliated individual voters. Romney did not appeal to the libertarians and some unaffiliaged voters. Now we have Karl Rove wanting to 'rebrand' the Republican party. But I see folks waking up even MORE to the fact that the established Republican party is just as responsible for the mess we're in as the Democrat party. And watering down the conservative message isn't going to work for them with voters. IF we survive to another election, and the election process isn't manipulated like in the last election, I think we're going to see more conservatives and libertarians elected. The American people who call themselves Tea Party are looking for candidates who honor the oath to protect and defend the Constitution. That sounds to me like 'libertarianism'. Many who were in times past part of the Republican voter block are taking a much closer look at the men running under THAT banner. And new blood, so to speak, is stepping up to the podium. Real libertarians? I think the libertarian idea of limited government and all that entails socially has grown since Obama's reelection. So, when are we going to see Democrats waking up to the fringe element of their own party? When registered communists are endorsing the Democrat party platform, when progressive Democrats are endorsing communist/socialist ideals as stated by Lenin and Marx...when is the Democrat voter going to wake up and NOT discredit the liberals of times past?