“Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel,” said famed 18th century British lexicographer Samuel Johnson. To update the quote for our current era you might substitute “children” for “patriotism” and “climate alarmist” for “scoundrel.”

Last week, outgoing United Nations World Food Program chief James Morris reminded us that 18,000 children die every day from hunger and malnutrition. Morris called the situation “a terrible indictment of the world in 2007.”

In contrast to our quixotic fixation with trying to fine-tune global climate by tweaking atmospheric carbon dioxide levels, the ongoing tragedy of starving children would seem to be a relatively easy problem to solve. After all, wealthy developed nations have plenty of surplus food and the wherewithal to deliver it to the world’s malnourished.

While the long-term solution for the starving children, of course, is the sort of economic development and political reform that would enable poverty stricken regions to develop self-sustaining economies, the short-term solution requires immediate direct aid from developed nations. And so it would seem that if the developed world’s opinion leaders and policymakers truly cared about “the children” as much as they publicly claim, food aid would already be flying to the world’s starving.

But it’s not. The only things flying around, in fact, are ubiquitous professions of alleged concern for children.