Like many people I view the Tea Party movement as a Republican sock puppet designed to convince voters that this time they really mean it when they say they want small government.
PS: I base this on the wiliness of Tea Party members to run in republican primaries.
What primaries should they have run in?
It's much easier to take over a political party than to start one AND knock out one of the big two. Libertarians and greens have proved that.
It would have been absurd to run in democrat primaries.
Sharing some libertarian beliefs doesn't imply an obligation to join the LP, especially since the LP has repeatedly demonstrated that it's more interested in making a statement than actually getting elected and changing things.
It takes a lot of money to get elected in the US. And you don't get re-elected if you then vote against the interests of your donors. And they certainly aren't donating money so that you'll cut off government spending.