"Civic virtue is bolstered is the public laws convey the notion that citizens are trusted.... In contrast, a constitution that implies a fundamental distrust in its citizens and seeks to discipline them tends to crowd out civic virtue and undermines the support which citizens are prepared to exert towards the basic law." Frey 1997
The fierce punishment in Ming dynasty did not prevent corruption from happening.
When we have a negative notion on and show distrust towards politicians, the civic virtue of politicians can be crowded out. What's even worse, when this negative notion is established as a stereotype, citizens with high civic virtue will choose not to participate in politics, and people with low civic virtue will self-select into politics because they are not burdened by the negative notion. A self-fulfilling prophecy hence realizes.
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