"HeyBub" writes:

Okay, show us a famine that has ever taken place in the history of the world
in a functioning democracy. There have been food shortages in democracies,
true. There may have even been widespread hunger. But never a famine.

Wikipedia has a handy list of famines:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_famines

scanning the list I see there were famines in Belgium and Greece
during WW2.
There are a few Irish famines, and one in Scotland.

I'm pretty sure all those countries had some sort of benevolent
monarchy at the time which was the fashion until only recently.

Most famines are caused by wars or natural catastrophes.
Democracies were pretty uncommon in the pre-industrial era.

I'm at a loss to understand what the point is.

The cures for famine come from modern industry and peace.
Democracies may lead to more peace but I think that's unproven.
We can certainly see counter examples in modern times.