salt of the earth

There must be a sizable moral constituency in a lasting democracy, whose assent, or support, cannot be had by others groups through offers of advantage, but only by reason and right.  The ordinary sources of this morality is schools, families, religion or a combination - except in the rarer sort of person who works out their morality relatively independently.  Those who simply will not take a bribe need not be in the majority, but they must be sufficiently numerous that they can be found in any community or agency, and again sufficiently numerous that they cannot be taken down by intimidation or isolation.