I am pedantic and want everyone in every discussion to agree about the definitions of the words they use. "Lobbying" is defined as seeking to influence a polit

I am pedantic and want everyone in every discussion to agree about the definitions of the words they use. "Lobbying" is defined as seeking to influence a politician or public official on an issue. Lobbying can be (and often is) an extremely reasonable thing to do. It is one of the main ways that public officials become fully educated about the various sides of issues that concern their constituencies. If you, as a private citizen, seek a meeting with your congressman to express your opinion about some policy or complain about some state of affairs in your district, you're lobbying. And you need to if you want them to be aware of your opinion or your plight. A lobbyist is simply a person who make a profession of lobbying (usually on behalf of others). They exist, in part, to educate legislators about the ins and outs of policy decisions that require significant research, data gathering, technical expertise, or complex reasoning. A senator cannot make every decision, or even have an opinion on every issue without the help of private citizens or organizations who have a more extensive background in the particular domain at hand. So you should probably say something like "Unless every service we use becomes non-free, lobbying is a very reasonable thing to do."