If Western society can get back out of this without permanently losing significant civil liberties, it will be a pretty strong signal for the viability of our d

If Western society can get back out of this without permanently losing significant civil liberties, it will be a pretty strong signal for the viability of our democracies, because we can temporarily suspended rights to counter a credible threat without ratcheting up too much. It remains to be seen if that will happen. After 9/11 I would argue there was a significant ratcheting effect.