It is sad. It is also all too indicative of our times.

Being registered to vote in central Denver, my representative in the Colorado House is Rep. Steven Woodrow. While I might prefer someone of more moderate bearing, I am a realist and do not quibble with the fact that Woodrow represents the district’s left-leaning tilt.

Woodrow is in his third term in the State House, having been appointed by a vacancy committee in February 2020 to replace then-Rep. Chris Hansen, who had been appointed by another vacancy committee to an open seat in the State Senate.

The ever-escalating number of Colorado legislators who first gained office not via election and the will of the voters but through this narrow process limited to ultra-partisan insiders is itself a scandal, though that is a topic for another day.

Woodrow’s service over the last four years has been decent, if undistinguished. Few observers would rank him among the top 20 stars of the General Assembly or the bottom 20 duds. He usually identifies with his caucus’s “progressive” wing and is another cog in the Capitol machine Democrats have built.

Having met for coffee once or twice, I can attest that Woodrow has adequate brainpower. He believes passionately in what he believes. He is not naturally inclined to compromise or to see an issue from multiple perspectives.

An effective legislator requires a keen interest in policy, a grasp of details, a knack for building coalitions, and an appreciation of nuance. That latter piece is most decidedly not in Woodrow’s repertoire.

Woodrow has chosen a different path to stardom. He is hardly the first legislator, here or beyond, to be drawn, almost compulsively, to the lights of social media instead of the tediousness of actual governance.

Give the man points for consistency. His posts, now mainly on Facebook after closing his Twitter account following a national firestorm, stick to the same theme over and over: Democrats good; Republicans evil. As I said, nuance is hardly his thing.

Look, I get that politics is a team sport. Further, as readers here are aware, I harbor a number of the same fears as to President Trump’s authoritarian instincts.

In Woodrow’s world, there are no shades of gray, only brilliant white and pitch black. He does not hold back in asserting that all Republicans are equally culpable, wicked, and dishonorable. Similarly, he has no use for any commentator or media type who is less than all-in on this narrative.

A sampling of Woodrow’s posts from just the past week:

Jan. 24th: “The full Franklin quote: ‘A Republic, if you can keep it. A dictatorship if the dummies ever win.’”

Jan. 26th: “Imagine how differently [sic] things would be if the Right cared about pep talks at Nazi rallies the way they do college kids in tea cloths.”

Jan. 27th: “In the USA, nothing matters more than Conservative feelings.”

To try to understand the differing motives of various Trump voters, much less to point out the Democratic shortcomings that fueled Trump’s victory, is to meet with Woodrow’s full-throated disparagement. Do not dare challenge his absolutes.

That has been the root of our few Facebook encounters over the years. My purpose is to point out excesses in both parties and hold both sides to account. Woodrow maintains that this is “both-siderism,” which directly conflicts with his one-sided view of which side bears exclusive blame.

To be clear, Woodrow’s concerns about Trump’s gross excesses are far from groundless. The problem lies in his willful refusal to see any bigger picture.

It has been a tough year for Woodrow. In April, he thought it somehow wise to challenge a speeding ticket under the privileged theory of legislative immunity.

Throughout the summer, he contended that sticking with Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee was the only path to victory.

To start this legislative session, his own party’s leadership demoted him in committee assignments.

Most recently, he passed over for a vacancy committee appointment (that beast again) to the state Senate, despite having been regarded as the favorite.

The topper came last July when Woodrow, in his zeal, tweeted his response to the near-miss assassination attempt on candidate Trump: “The last thing America needed was sympathy for the devil, but here we are.”

That prompted a national backlash and forced Woodrow to shutter his Twitter account. Would he have only done the same for the rest of his social media?

Legislation is serious business while Facebook and the rest provide momentary, fleeting dopamine. Colorado already has one take-no-prisoners, brook-no-compromise showboat in Lauren Boebert. She does not require a Democratic counterpart.

Step away from the keyboard, Rep. Woodrow.

Eric Sondermann is a Colorado-based independent political commentator. He writes regularly for ColoradoPolitics and the Gazette newspapers. Reach him at EWS@EricSondermann.com; follow him at @EricSondermann