What about such things as safe streets, functional utilities and preserved parks? As citizens we deserve them, but they are not among our legal rights.

Conflating moral objectives, sometimes referred to as "natural rights," with legal rights is trending. When Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweets, "Health care is a basic human right," she hurts the argument that she and Sen. Bernie Sanders are making on behalf of Medicare for All. Health care is vital, but it's not a right, at least not in the United States. The obvious proof is the fact that many Democrats are striving to make it one.

Sen. Cory Booker has introduced legislation to establish a federal jobs guarantee program. He believes every American has the right to a job "and that right has only become more important," he maintains, in an age of income inequality and discrimination.

Government guarantees are often called economic rights or positive rights—benefits, such as Social Security, to which citizens can claim a legal right. In 1944 President Franklin Roosevelt proposed a "Second Bill of Rights," including jobs, education and medical care—the very things candidates are advocating today—calling them "new goals of human happiness and well-being."

It was not clear whether FDR, who died the following year, was speaking of actual, enforceable rights or merely guideposts for a better society. He proposed "the right of every family to a decent home," but he stopped short of guaranteeing such a right by having government pay for the homes.

In today's politics, semantics matter and inaccurately describing ambitious policies is a red flag. The undecided voter might reasonably say, "Persuade me, but don't claim something is a right when it's not." Some conservatives fear costly "entitlements" and reject the notion that discretionary government spending can be lumped with our inalienable rights.

At the start of this decade the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution declaring that access to water is a human right. That seems eminently more reasonable than suggesting we are somehow entitled to universal pre-k.

To be clear, several legitimate rights have been challenged recently, despite laws that support them. A woman's right to choose is being threatened and should be defended in state legislatures and in the courts. Voter suppression poses a risk to our electoral freedom and we must take whatever steps are needed to protect the right to vote. Women's rights to equal pay and opportunity, LBGTQ rights to marry and serve in the military—they, too, are established rights.

An interesting example of the power of words was seen recently in The New York Times, where an opinion writer stated flatly that child care is a "fundamental right." Editors crafting the headline wisely inserted the word "should," making it, "Child Care Should Be a Right," giving readers a proper headline over an improperly worded op-ed. It's a distinction that makes a difference.

Candidates would be more persuasive if they argued that things such as pre-K and employment "ought to be a right," or "deserve to be a right." Alternatively, they could choose to remain silent, which is after all their Miranda Right.

(c) Peter Funt. This column originally appeared in USA Today.