2 men and a butcher

Last week we experienced the passing of three men – former President Gerald R. Ford, singing legend James Brown and the sadistic madman Saddam Hussein. They were not great men as such, but men who nonetheless left their own indelible marks on our present.

As a good friend and colleague put it, "Ford was a decent man and a patriot by his own rights, but also a man who was instinctively non-ideological and also uncomfortable with asserting ideas, at least beyond a certain mushy middle consensus position. Not a Reagan and [thankfully] not a Carter – but a man [we] would feel comfortable leaving our unchaperoned daughters around – which is more than can be said for some presidents."

TRENDING: Is this what you voted for, America?

He was certainly no conservative, and in later years, many conservatives – myself included – strenuously disagreed with most of what he said publicly. Albeit, to be fair, in all likelihood the mainstream media probably failed to report things he said that we did agree with.

He was never elected president – only tried and approved by the Senate. Liberals would argue same was a much better method of selecting the president "they want" – certainly a much better way than letting the rabble, i.e., the voters, select. In their minds, if the likes of Byrd, Kennedy, Kerry, Durbin and Leahy were allowed to select the president, we wouldn't have know-nothings like George Bush – we would have strong leaders like Ford (sarcasm intended).

Of the three, James Brown will be the most misrepresented. Brown's impact on music and the music culture cannot be applauded enough. His social relevance in the late 1960s is also undeniable.

But Brown's message, as is the case with many of his contemporaries, has been co-opted, truncated and obfuscated in ways that prevent the true relevance of his message from being applied in the lives of those who gleefully tapped their feet to the beat of his music, but are blissfully deaf to the message it proclaimed.

For instance, every black from "back in the day" can recall the raw empowerment exuded in his power anthem "I'm Black and I'm Proud." However, very few realized then, and even fewer realize today, exactly what Brown was advocating.

His message was co-opted to be a cry for black militancy – truncated to be "afros" and afro-centric attire – and obfuscated to cloud the truth. His lyrics were simple truth – "We demand a chance to do things for [ourselves] … we're tired of … workin' for someone else." What greater cry of empowerment for all people, but especially for those crippled by the Great Society initiatives.

His lyric "We'd rather die on our feet, than be livin' on our knees" is a clarion reminder of a people's life spent waiting for the government to give them their next stipend. Brown's message was "I'm black and I'm proud" – get out of my way, I can do it myself. OOH-RAH belongs at the end of that refrain.

Brown penned: "I don't want nobody to give me nothing – open the door I'll get it myself … don't give me no animation, give me true communication … don't give me no sorrow … give me equal opportunity to live tomorrow – give me schools and give me … books – so I can read … and gain my truly looks … we don't want no sympathy. …"

The message was one of self-motivation and meritocracy, but vampiristic ghouls who gain presence by corrupting the message of life that men like Brown proclaim will pompously pontificate his message into that which leads to the very subjugation he challenged blacks to overcome.

Finally, there was Saddam Hussein – "was" being the operative word. In the end, he died as he had lived. He died a shameful caricature of a man whose lust for death could only be sated by his own.

We will remember that Gerald R. Ford contended powerfully (along with Everett Dirkson, R-Ill.), with then-President Lyndon Johnson that the Great Society initiatives would do irreparable harm to the very people Johnson claimed interest in helping. We will smile that he was the brunt of many jokes per his uncanny propensity for untimely clumsiness.

We will remember James Brown as a man who elevated himself leagues above his humble beginnings, a man whose "Papa Didn't Take No Stuff" and a man who said "open the door, I'll get it myself."

Saddam Hussein's execution will not remedy the pain of those who suffered under his brutal regime. But history, if left to the liberal haters, will record that the justice he received wasn't warranted – that it was George Bush's way of getting oil for his rich friends and settling a vendetta for his father.

The tragedy is that there are those in academia who are already teaching this blasphemous lie.