Because rights have functionally become a prestige concept. If you want your position on something to be treated as "holy" or unassailable, you reframe it in th

Because rights have functionally become a prestige concept. If you want your position on something to be treated as "holy" or unassailable, you reframe it in the context of a right. You can see this across the political spectrum and on various issues that otherwise have no relation to the traditional political concept of a right.