I can’t believe I’m saying this, but if the Republican Party wants to get back into the game, it should start by paying more attention to its new chairman, the all-too-quotable Michael Steele.

Careful perusal of the Sayings of Chairman Mike wouldn’t address the party’s intellectual deficit—its inability to frame an updated “free markets, small government” philosophy for an era in which markets have run amok and government must necessarily grow. Steele is not a philosopher. He’s a clever politician, though, and while he says things that are impolitic—and just plain loopy—he also challenges the party to confront the fact of its increasing marginalization.

The Republican Party has backed itself into a regional, ideological and demographic corner—the one marked “rural, conservative, white.” The party is out of step with the nation it aspires to lead, and until room is made for those with a range of viewpoints—and those with different racial and ethnic backgrounds—it is hard to imagine how the party can achieve its dream of establishing a new “big tent” majority.

Michael Steele may indeed be crazy like a fox. Still pretty crazy, though.