legitimize

A genre as wide-reaching and weird as this one doesn’t need golden statues to be legitimized.

The Confederacy appropriated the Declaration in an attempt to legitimize secession, with President Jefferson Davis citing “the American idea that governments rest upon the consent of the governed.”

However, we need to acknowledge that our own government, in many cases, sends signals that provide encouragement and support that legitimize violence.

With the advent of the bomb, Americans accepted their role as “moral monsters,” legitimizing technological slaughter as a permissible instrument of state power.

This democratic accountability is positioned as a key differentiator that could legitimize the retaliatory action.