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This is not the trajectory of world history over recent centuries. You do in fact have more rights and freedoms as an average modern American than as an average citizen of almost any premodern civilisation. All of this apparently gritty cynicism about how it's all about power and rights don't real is just historical denialism.
I have a different interpretation. Various governments in history claimed to have absolute power over their territories, and the right of life and death their subjects. So the average joe had no rights. In fact, though, these governments barely controlled the outskirts of their capital city. Their grip over the empire amounted to negotiating with local magnates and associations. When I read about farmers and shepherds living in the Pyrenees, it seems like the king in Paris, the pope in Rome, and even the nobles in Bordeaux barely influenced their lives at all.
Obviously, their local nobles and clergy could tyrannize them. But tyrannizing a community that lives right next to you and knows where you sleep is a dangerous business. In practice, serfs worked the lord's strip one day per week and did a pretty lazy job of it. In theory, the church required that everyone attend mass; in practice, only a fraction did.
The early modern period, on the other hand, saw an explosion in state capacity. Monarchs gained standing armies, the right to permanent taxes, bureaucracies, and modern financial instruments. Local nobles and clergy became absentee nobles and clergy, leaving the collection of dues to deputies. This caused turmoil and revolt.
The formal rights we gained in the 19th century are not new things; they are a reaction to attempts by the state to enforce hypothetical claims as actual policy starting in the 16th century or so.
By analogy, do you remember all those states banning gay marriage in the 90s and 00s? Would you say gay rights were increasing or decreasing, then? The formal law was not a sign that gay rights were declining, but that they were growing. Things like "civil rights" are the reverse situation. In theory, we have more freedoms than ever. In practice, institutional control over people's lives is at an unprecedented high.
This is all a re-litigation of Uncle Ted's take, so I'll quote him directly.
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