Barnum was actually much more interesting than that mal-attributed quote would have you think. Indeed he was widely viewed as a philanthropist at the end of his life (as long as he could make a buck out of the deal, of course).
Indeed. Many thought he was a straight out conman, but he was really just very astute. And as you say, in some ways a philanthropist.
But that could mean that as people get older they move to the right.
Normally, yes.
Though I have a vague memory that this has been shown to be less the case these days.
Yes I think that has been generally true in the past, but…
In the UK it used to be that people got more right-wing as they aged, but the trend has slowed in recent years I believe.
I’m not sure if the same applies in the US.
When one is young one hasn’t two pennies to rub together so obviously one is socialist, in later life, having accumulated a few bob one moves to the right and yells “let them work for it , like wot I had to” 
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I find myself moving more to the left as I get older, probably late development of the empathy that I lacked as a yoof.
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I am definitely older and I would need vote for the Tories again.
Neither would I vote for Labour, but I was considering it when they promised to make Britain self sufficient in food as I believed they would be supporting farmers.
What a bad joke.
As has been discussed ad-nauseum, the outrage over the imposition of inheritance tax has been largely confected. Not only will it affect few actual farmers, it will put the brakes on the acquisition of land by speculators who just bank the land. Did you know that in the last twelve months, over one million acres of farming land has been purchased by speculators and taken out of production. It’s not even been rented to other farmers, it’s just lying fallow for the foreseeable future. This speculation has also hugely inflated land prices creating a real headache for new farmers who want to farm the land, they just can’t afford to now as land rents are growing in pace with prices. That’s one of the real problem that you should get exercised about, not the faux outrage of the rich speculators who jump on the bandwagon, like Farage who has bought £3 million of farm land to avoid inheritance tax.
Also, not in the news at all because of this outrage is the Budget provided an extra £5 billion for farmers to increase food production. But of course most people haven’t heard about this.
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I hadn’t and I consider myself quite engaged in politics
I’ve never heard of this, got a link? I know they published a paper on making food supplies more resilient but, given that the UK has not been self-sufficient in food for generations, that feels like a bit of a pipedream.
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It doesn’t actually say it’s extra money though. Needs more digging.
I was a Republican until 2016 when it came down to Trump or Cruz. They lost me. I don’t think I went left, they just went far to the right , off the road and into the ditch. I’m a Democrat now, but not thrilled with what they have become either.
I think a lot of people in the UK feel the same about Labour .
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Not if you are a hill or family farmer.
The absolute mess regarding environmental schemes is also causing real problems because no one can plan ahead.
I heard Keir Starmer make a speech at the NFU Conference which was televised and in which he promised to support farming and make the UK self sufficient in food.
He’s got his work cut out there as close to half of all the UK’s food is imported.
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