“We’re All Gonna Die!” Prince and Joni Ernst Meant This in Totally Different Ways

Prince Meant Live Your Best Life, Ernst Doesn’t Care About the Elderly and Poor

jimi hughes from ballymena, n ireland — https://www.flickr.com/photos/jimieye/, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The song "Let’s Go Crazy" was the lead track on Prince’s 1984 album, Purple Rain. The album, also the soundtrack for the movie Purple Rain, sold over 25 million copies worldwide and is one of the best-selling albums of all time. The lyrics contain the words, “We’re all gonna die,” that was part of a powerful message in the song.

Prince explained that the song he wrote was about religion and beating the devil. “As I wrote it, ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ was about God and the de-elevation of sin. But the problem was that religion as a subject is taboo in pop music. People think that the records they release have got to be hip, but what I need to do is to tell the truth.”

I had to change those words up, but the elevator was Satan. I had to change the words up because you couldn’t say God on the radio. And ‘Let’s Go Crazy’ was God to me. It was: Stay happy, stay focused, and you can beat the elevator. Are we gonna let the elevator bring us down? Oh no let’s go!”

“We’re all excited
But we don’t know why
Maybe it’s ‘cause
We’re all gonna die

And when we do (when we do)
What’s it all for (what’s it all for)
You better live now
Before the grim reaper come knocking on your door”

Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) conducted a town hall for her constituents (never a good idea for Republicans lately), and the topic of Medicaid cuts came up.

“Are you afraid of Trump, are you corrupt like Trump, or are you just to the point you don’t care anymore, and that’s why you don’t do anything?” — Harrison Cass

“Trump does take my calls, he does listen to my concerns,” Ernst said. “I did not do that with President Biden; he did not take my calls, he did not take anybody’s calls. That’s the way government should work, having this type of interaction and interaction between the branches of government.” — Joni Ernst

“People will die!” — unidentified woman

“Well, we are all going to die,” — Joni Ernst

I submit that when Joni Ernst told a crowd, “We’re all going to die.” It was not a religious message encouraging us to live our best lives like Prince intended. Ernst was telling her constituents that it didn’t matter that 12 million people were being thrown off Medicaid because they would have eventually died anyway. Just sooner and in more pain.

It can’t be easy to stand up in front of crowds and attempt to explain why it’s necessary to cut needed healthcare benefits (including cuts to Medicare) to justify a tax cut mainly benefiting the wealthiest Americans. Most politicians won’t say out loud they don’t give a damn about those their policies will kill. Give Ernst points for honesty at least.

After an uproar over her comment, Ernst issued a tongue-in-cheek apology. Rather than accept my interpretation, read it for yourself.

“Hello everyone. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely apologize for a statement that I made yesterday at my town hall. I made an incorrect assumption that everyone in the auditorium understood that yes, we are all going to perish from this Earth. So I apologize. And I’m really, really glad that I did not have to bring up the subject of the tooth fairy as well. But for those that would like to see eternal and everlasting life, I encourage you to embrace my lord and savior, Jesus Christ.’’

Democrats will likely try to attribute Ernst’s callous attitude to the entire Republican Party, and they should. The question should be asked of every supporter of cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, “How many people are going to die?” Hopefully, they can come up with a better answer than Joni Ernst.