“Let experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal.”

pretty vague quote. what i wud to see are quotes about "individual" freedom, as opposed to collective or group or national freedom. it is something politicans never dare talk about.

don't know enough about it to rate it.

"It is well worth a fair and full experiment." Only upon the assimilation of general - yet deep - principles can a people achieve individual freedom.

This needs some context or elaboration. It sounds as if it relates to a specific case to be judged. I rated it with one star instead of thumbs down due to the vagueness of the quote. It rates at least one star because these are George Washington words.

What difference does the context make? Either draw from experience or speculation -- which is better? Experience! Hope or history? History! Seems clear enough to me.

Didn't Washington at his 'farewell address' advise America to 'avoid foreign entanglements' ? The whirring sound you may not hear is Washington spinning in his grave like a pinwheel.

Read closely his farewell address, and his recommendations. He sees corruption at it's source. Experience of war and to keep away from entanglement of foreign affairs to grow and prosper. Till our rights to person and property which have been taxed away by the very corruption he warned against.