Amen, but I prefer high butterfat butter to vegetable oils: http://www.ansonmills.com/recipes/464
A serious argument [0] can be made that sugar crept in due to the switch from stone milling to steel rollers circa 1900 which greatly affected the flavor of corn meal due to the amount of the kernel being lost but also the heat generated.
Kind of a double whammy... the heat robs it of flavor which is made up for by adding sugar and also decreases the nutrient value of the meal by milling out the germ.
[0]: http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/08/why-southern-cornbread-sh...