Libertarians want smaller goverment, Religious right wants larger government that discriminates

The title of this post is the basic summary of this piece I recommend from Washington Monthly shared on Alternet; Tea Party Split Between Libertarian Faction and Religious Right? by Steve Benen. For those of you who lean libertarian (like me) but have not been able to buy into the whole Tea Party concept? You are going to want to read this in full. One part, I found especially thought provoking:

This is not a group of mainstream Americans. Farah's conspiracy-driven website has taken the lead in peddling Birther nonsense; Bachmann is mad as a hatter; Moore is a theocrat who doesn't believe the Bill of Rights applies to the states and was removed from office for ignoring federal court orders he didn't like; and Scarborough is a radical preacher best known for being a Jerry Falwell acolyte, writing a book called Liberalism Kills Kids, and trying to establish his own mini-theocracy in Texas several years ago.

With that in mind, the speakers' list offers some hints about the direction of this "movement." There have been fissures between the libertarian-minded factions and religious-right-style theocrats whose agenda expands well beyond taxes and "socialized medicine."

Indeed, the tension between the factions matters a great deal -- the former wants smaller government in all instances; the latter wants bigger government to prevent abortions and discriminate against minority groups right-wing activists don't like.