"The Law is Reason, Free From Passion"

So said Aristotle.
Our politicians should be dissuaded from enacting knee-jerk reactionary laws. The latest example of lawmakers hitting their jaws with their knee caps is the meelee over the AIG bonuses paid from bailout funds.
While we can all agree that this was a horrible indiscretion by the commanders at AIG we should also recognize that our reaction is visceral... entirely emotional. To respond with laws based on visceral reactions is folly.
No matter how egregious one's actions are, the law should be made with reason and rationality, with careful consideration of all the foreseeable effects and long term consequences.
Proponents of the bill taxing the bonuses would argue that this will be a one time deal. Beware... there is no such thing as a "one-time" deal! As soon as anyone does something "once", evermore they will be able to say in the future, "we've done it before - why can't we do it again?" The mold has been cast.
On the other hand, if we didn't do it, any time someone is tempted to do it, it can be said, "we've never done it before". There is no precedent.