I wish everyone would stop talking about the ideals touted as the foundations of America’s democratic constitution. All the establishing premises of the United States of America are in question marked by ubiquitous protests by the people, being dismantled and rolled back by Congress, being overturned under a conservative Supreme Court.

These are dynamic times, not end times.

While I am sickened by the public execution of Charlie Kirk — it was horrible to see — the ongoing public defenses of his right to utter controversial, racist and other divisive statements, seemingly to bolster his popularity and deliver young voters to the right leaning Republican party, are undergirded by his right to free speech, even coming within just a few words short of incendiary rhetoric.

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”

No one should be killed over words. Malcolm X, who I hold in high esteem, used to say controversial things, before he became “enlightened,” and he, too was murdered for his utterances. And while Malcolm was only 39 years old when he was murdered, apparently those eight additional years more than Kirk made a profound difference in their maturity.

But this is America, born in protest against unfair taxation, driven by its “manifest destiny” to conquer and kill indigenous folk and take their land, which has prospered for hundreds of years from unpaid forced labor (chattel slavery), and subsequently holding the highest status in military and economic might, up until now.

America’s hubris has slipped under a litany of setbacks: shrinking job markets, a less than rigorous economy, led by a president with felony convictions, systemic racism exacerbated by its unresolved immigration crisis, and universally renowned for having the highest rate of gun related deaths in the world.

Great country, right?

Charlie Kirk’s murder is just another symptom of what is ailing America: a malignant cancer that has, to date, metastasized into every cell of society; hate, intolerance, racism, and fear of the "other." Utterly incurable.

Or is it?