Admiring the role of civic organizations in the infancy of America, Alexis De Tocqueville wrote, “In America the liberty of association for political purposes is unbounded.” Yet he also warned that if people “had neither the right nor the taste to unite in political goals, their independence would run great risks.”

Unfortunately, now politicians often threaten to burden our freedom of association. If Tocqueville was alive now, he wouldn’t understand why the IRS forces groups to report their supporters’ names and addresses. That data collection harms both the right and the taste to unite in pursuit of social change.