After the crime wave of the 1990s, politicians at the state, local and national scene all seemed to adopt different variations of the philosophy — “do the crime, do the time.” Over time, the crime rate went down, incarceration levels went up and the new consensus on violent crime has become: unconditional surrender.

It doesn’t quite strike fear in the hearts of criminals the same way, does it?

Let’s take a short look at our evolution, or should I say de-evolution, on the subject.

In 1990 U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein was practically booed off the stage at the California Democratic Party convention after she told delegates, “Yes, I support the death penalty. It is an issue that cannot be fudged or hedged.” She knew, despite her own party’s stance, that soft-on-crime policies were a political death sentence.

But the winds have changed, and now Sen. Feinstein opposes the death penalty. In a statement to the LA Times, California’s senior senator explained, “It became crystal clear to me that the risk of unequal application is high and its effect on deterrence is low.”

Maybe death penalty proponents can bring DiFi back into the fold by making it part of the Green New Deal — all you have to do is scrap lethal injection and replace it with a solar powered electric chair.

Democratic Gov. Gray Davis governed as an enthusiastic supporter of the death penalty, was endorsed by numerous law enforcement organizations and issued exactly zero pardons.

Now, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, also a Democrat, ordered a mass reprieve for the 737 inmates on death row. In a written statement, Newsom argued, “[The death penalty] has provided no public safety benefit or value as a deterrent. It has wasted billions of taxpayer dollars. But most of all, the death penalty is absolute, irreversible and irreparable in the event of a human error.”

To victims, Newson said, “all I can say is, ‘We owe you and we need to do more and do better, more broadly for victims in this state … but we cannot advance the death penalty in an effort to try to soften the blow of what happened.’”

Someone should let him know that he’s telling the wrong group to drop dead.

In a 1993 speech supporting the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, then-Sen. Joe Biden warned of “predators on our streets.”

”They [criminals] are beyond the pale many of those people, beyond the pale…And it’s a sad commentary on society. We have no choice but to take them out of society,” he prescribed.

Biden was so proud of the 1994 crime bill he has repeatedly referred to it over the years as “the Biden bill.” In fact, he’s done everything but smell its hair and kiss the back of its head.

But Biden is now running away from the 1994 law he championed. At a criminal justice event in January, he said, “I haven’t always been right. I know we haven’t always gotten things right, but I’ve always tried.”

From 1980 to 2004, California constructed 21 new prisons and in 2010 approved an $853,000 upgrade to San Quentin’s death chamber.

Now, the California legislature is considering a bill to cut parole times for violent criminals in half.

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Constant exemptions are a lousy way to make law Over the course of just a few decades we’ve gone from ‘three strikes and you’re out’, to granting criminals intentional walks.

And if all of this isn’t backwards enough, Vermont Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders recently told a CNN town hall audience that convicted felons serving time in prison deserve the right to vote. Because, after all, no democracy can function unless you let the likes of the Boston Marathon bomber, Manson family killers and former governors of Illinois pick our leaders.

Albert Einstein once said, “politics is a pendulum whose swings between anarchy and tyranny are fueled by perennially rejuvenated illusions.”

There’s no doubt the pendulum is swinging against those who believe in law and order. Let’s just hope that it’s only a pendulum swinging against us, not a baseball bat.

John Phillips can be heard weekdays at 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. on “The Morning Drive with John Phillips and Jillian Barberie” on KABC/AM 790.