What we are not acknowledging is that for a right to be useful it needs someone to have a duty. And for a right to be just requires those who have such rights to contribute to the outcome as they can.
In New Zealand that means those who think they have a right to such things as a dry warm house in precisely the neighbourhood they wish or a meaningful job working for a company which has values they like, may be in for a nasty surprise.
Even when rights are asserted on a more basic level, such as a roof over your head, those who will be providing resources expect payment for such housing where possible, and looking after any housing provided.
Instead of taking to social media and marching in the streets a more useful plan would be to show you have done what you can for yourself and then to try to find a government agency which is prepared on behalf of taxpayers to provide what you consider to be your rights.
This is true for international treaties about rights as well. We now have international treaties we sign up to promising such things as clean water, housing, freedom from war and a planet with a stable temperature.
In the discussions about whether we will sign up there is no obvious discussion about what the obligation will mean and who is expected to carry it out.
The most recent obligations centre on climate change. Apparently New Zealand has agreed to provide for developing countries money because these will be more affected if the climate does not remain as it was in 1990.
This includes such countries as China and India.
If we promise large amounts of money, enough to make a difference to such countries, no-one talks about what we have to sacrifice in New Zealand to provide these rights.
No-one talks of the inequity of expecting New Zealand to come to an expensive party that will not be attended by several of the largest countries in the developed world.
It turns out that for any countries to have rights they must first find countries to sheet home responsibility for providing such rights.
We need countries or governments who will take on the duties which are embedded in the rights, and take them on year in year out.
Without that, the whole expensive 70,000 people talk fest is just that: an expensive 70,000 people talk fest.
And we must all be aware that by the time any promises extracted come home to roost almost none of the current world leaders are likely to be around.
Addressing how to get countries to actually provide resources as if anyone has a right to such starts with how we motivate them.
We tend to think it is only fair if anyone who thinks they have a right to something does what they can to help their position.
On a local level, that may mean you should try to find a job, and turn up for job interviews, or retrain where that may help. You may need to move to where jobs are, or take on something which is not your first choice.
On an international climate response level, why would we provide resources for countries who have resources of their own, even if they have found these since 1990?
What of countries who have put themselves in a worse situation by for example not letting women contribute to the economic welfare of their country? And what if there is no-one trustworthy to give the money to, so any money provided will just be siphoned off to the coffers of a corrupt administration?
In short, rights require someone who is prepared to take on a duty to provide. And that someone would expect you to do what you could for yourself first.
And when you imagine the government will take on the duties there is of course no government to provide resources: it is only us, so you need to convince all of us, not just faceless people writing government policy documents.
Perhaps we could be world leading in New Zealand and focus on creating a Bill of Responsibilities and Duties.
Instead of making impassioned speeches about our rights we could start talking about what we can contribute to our own situation and that of those around us.
We could take a leaf from John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address: ‘‘Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country’’.
That was leadership. That was inspirational.
And it was a call for us to be inspired to be better, not a call to complain about what others are not doing for us.
• Hilary Calvert is a former Otago regional councillor, MP and Dunedin city councillor.
