I love Heather Cox Richardson, and I'm extremely grateful for her work, but she uses a term that weakens the position of all of us trying to restore some level of respect to elective office and the citizen government established for us by the constitution that everyone seems so eager to wield in their own interest.
Back when government was all men, the term "congressman" served to describe the role in a neutral way. When women joined the ranks, "congresswoman" joined the lexicon. It doesn't flow as smoothly in speech, and now faces additional problems for gender oversimplification. So I understand the need for a gender-neutral, generic term for a member of congress. "Congressional representative" is bland, boring, pedantic, and takes too long to say. "Congrasshole" is not emotionally neutral or supportive of the institution. But "critter" makes them seem harmless, cute, and ineffectual. Either that or like vermin that you call an exterminator because they're destroying your stuff.
Cynics will say that this term therefore accurately depicts members of Congress, because they are all those things. However, political commentators will also exhort us to go out and vote. Vote! It's your voice! Choose that candidate who will get in there and work hard to represent your interests! And magically transform into a critter as soon as confirmed in office, apparently. It makes the whole thing seem pointless and hopeless, which pleases both the oligarchs and the accelerationists who want to collapse civilization. Do you really want to live under the boot heel of robber barons or through the deadly chaos of civilization's collapse? If so, turn loose your last fingertip grasp of political control. Embrace the cynical resignation. Call your representatives critters and expect nothing more of them than you would of rats and roaches.
Oversimplification does not aid communication. Complex concepts are made up of simple parts, but they're made of lots of simple parts. Not everyone of voting age and eligibility has the patience to wade through all that. We're in the mess we're in right now because of decades trying to accommodate that on one side and exploit it on the other. The exploitive side has done all it can to undermine trust in experts. Education moves too slowly to keep up with the pace of events. That's why the brainiacs in the tech sector want to impose their own dominion over the common herd, because they're so much better than the rest of us. Can't boil an egg or change a tire, but they can design a surveillance system that knows how often you fart.
If we can't believe that we're able to find and vote for responsible people who will do their best for us in a tough job for what is actually fairly low pay, why show up at all?
Find a better term.
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