Stay In Your Lane

When our kids were younger, I spent many a fall day coaching their soccer teams. Matt and Chris played on the Bulldogs, and Bethany on the Red Rockets. Despite my all-too-obvious coaching flaws, both teams did surprisingly well, perhaps because I tried to emphasize two very important aspects of the game.

First, I encouraged our players that when, not if, they were knocked to the ground, to get back up ASAP. I had watched far too many players fall down and lay there while the game – and their opponents – passed them by. It occurred to me that the team whose players regained their footing the fastest had a distinct advantage and so, we would run “up and down” drills at every practice.

I think there may be a life lesson there, too!

The other strategy that I tried to teach and constantly reinforce was to stay in your own lane. A soccer field is divided into three lanes: left, center, and right. If players can be disciplined enough to stay in their respective lanes instead of chasing the ball all around the field, they will be successful more often than not because they will rarely be out of position.

In other words, let the action come to you.

Recently, I read with great interest – but also with a healthy measure of surprise and disappointment – that Steve Lonegan was running for yet another office in New Jersey. I’ve lost count, but I think this will be Steve’s 8th or 9th campaign since he became mayor of Bogota in 1995. To his credit, Steve has never backed down from a fight and I am largely in agreement with his policies. He also ran a few credible races against Chris Christie for the Republican nomination for governor in 2009, and against Cory Booker for the U.S. Senate in 2013.

However, in recent years, Steve has traveled the state looking for open seats for which to run… despite not living in those districts. A resident of Bergen County, Steve had no business running in NJ-3 (as he did in 2014) or NJ-5 (as he did in 2018). Now he plans to run for the State Senate in LD24, a Republican bastion, figuring that if he can somehow capture the GOP nomination he would be a shoo-in in the general election.

Can you say “carpetbagger?” And can you also say “Harold Stassen?”

For those with short memories, Stassen was a popular governor of Minnesota, the youngest person to ever hold that office. He was also a frontrunner for the 1948 Republican nomination for president. However, he lost the nomination to Thomas Dewey of New York, who famously fell to Harry Truman in the fall. Undaunted, Stassen ran for president again in 1952, this time losing out to Dwight Eisenhower.

Despite holding a prominent position as president of the University of Pennsylvania, Stassen’s ego and political aspirations eventually got the best of him. Between 1958 and 1990, a period of 32 years, he campaigned unsuccessfully for the following positions: Governor of Pennsylvania, Mayor of Philadelphia, U.S. Senator, Governor of Minnesota (40 years after leaving office), and U.S. Representative. He also ran – again, unsuccessfully – for the Republican nomination for president in 1964, 1968, 1976, 1980, 1984, 1988, and 1992.

As a result, a once promising public servant became a caricature of his former self. Today, people forget Stassen’s notable accomplishments, such as his stellar military service in World War II, and simply remember him as an aging politician with a bad toupee.

Sound familiar?

Lest people think I am taking an unwarranted potshot at Steve Lonegan, who has courageously overcome physical disabilities to champion the conservative cause, I am simply stating the obvious. I am also speaking from personal experience.

As a political novice, I won the Republican nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2008 before losing to Rep. Rob Andrews, a 9-term incumbent, in the general election. At the request of my party’s leadership, I ran again in 2010, this time winning a 4-way GOP primary. However, running as a conservative Republican in one of the safest Democratic districts in the country resulted in my taking it on the chin again that November.

A year later, our family relocated to Florida to launch a new ministry and five years after that, I found myself running for state representative. Despite outworking the other three candidates combined, I finished a disappointing fourth in the GOP primary. Figuring that the voters had spoken and “three strikes and you’re out,” I effectively retired from politics, choosing instead to focus on ministry opportunities and my growing family.

Today, I spend most of my time working with at-risk youth and serving as the pastor of a new church plant. I also thoroughly enjoy spending quality and quantity time with my bride of 37 years and our six grandchildren, who are the absolute joys of my life. And yes, I speak out on political issues from the sidelines via my personal blog, www.daleglading.com.

In other words, I try to stay in my lane… and God has blessed me accordingly. I hope that Steve Lonegan and other career candidates will learn to do the same.

“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the One who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut, and what He shuts no one can open.” Revelation 3:7 (BSB)