That's both right and wrong. The way I read that is, though wise men WOULD have a set of fixed principles from which they would never swerve, politicians can't because they have to cater to the changing whims of the public.

IMO, that's utterly wrong. A WISE man, would know that there are few fixed principles when it comes to solutions to social issues, and that no fixed set of ideas is going to solve all problems all of the time. And that's one of the key problems with our political system. We have people on both ends who believe that only their solutions are workable, no matter the circumstances. And we have absolutely no way to allow for flexible application of ad hoc solutions designed to fit the problem, because no one trusts anyone else enough to allow them to do so.

This is a fundamental issue, which is probably never going to go away, and will continue to hold us back and cause both political polarization and over-regulation intended to enforce a least common denominator, because the whole framework doesn't allow for anything else under currently and likely ever prevailing circumstances. I see no way to fix this problem without a massive increase in the education and perspective of humans, and that's somewhat less likely than me winning the lottery without buying a ticket.