San Francisco-native turned Berkeley resident Michael Shellenberger is no stranger to California’s progressive political climate. Identifying as a liberal himself, Shellenberger has seen the state change due to its progressive criminal justice policies. He argues these policies that loosen penalties for crime, push housing first for the homeless, and enable open air drug use coupled with violent social justice protests have led to the decline of the Golden State. According to the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), both property and violent crime were up 17 percent in 2021. Between Jan. 1, 2020 and Oct. 31, 2021, researchers examined reported crime numbers for Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, and San Francisco. The study also noted that the peculiar circumstances of the pandemic are affecting the extent to which crime is reported. “There’s good reason to think that crime has actually increased significantly more than that,” Shellenberger told The Epoch Times …