Personally, I give gratitude to God for the fact that I was born in the USA, beause I am more able to freely express my beliefs here than I would be anywhere else on earth.
Serendipity.
Irrespective of the quality of the crime, legal sanction(s) for commiting the crime are rights violations. The sanctions are justified to protect the rights of all the others.
"By 'absolute' I mean not subject to government usurpation no matter what."
Like? Absolute rights are claims to right, which if taken w/o justification always diminish and alter the nature of individuals to a great extent. Absolute rights are enumerations of various items of the essence of man. They are the rights spoken of in natural law.
"We are born with rights which we keep by means of a social contract."
No. You are born with the rights. If you keep them, it is because a gift was extended to you by your fellows honoring them. You can extend that gift to others, or fail to and suffer their wrath. A contract implies, not right, but priviledge and something earned. Liberals and other authoritarian cons would have folks believe in and talk contracts.