Listen Live on KKFI
Every Tuesday at 6:00pmAbout the Show
Radio Active Magazine
A locally produced program where activist groups in the Kansas City area present interviews, commentary, editorials, and other thought provoking content on a weekly basis.
Reform and Reaction: The Arc of Kansas Politics is a 2024 book discussing the evolution of Kansas politics from 1960 to 2018 with chapters written by five leading experts on Kansas history and edited by Michael Smith and Ed Flentje. The book was conceived by Professor Emeritus Burdett Loomis, who passed after organizing the project and writing the introductory chapter. His chapter discussed changes forced upon Kansas by a one-person-one-vote decision by the US Supreme Court. This decision forced the Kansas House of Representatives to abandon their one-representative per county policy and give more power to the growing urban areas against the declining rural population. The book ends with a discussion of the rise and fall of Conservative Republican governor Sam Brownback.
Michael Smith is a professor of political science at Emporia State and former chair of the Social Sciences department there. He is the author, co-author or editor of five books and multiple journal articles. He is no stranger to KKFI, most recently giving “A Deep Dive into the 2024 Elections“, 2024-11-19. Ed Flentje is professor emeritus from Wichita State. He has written and edited numerous academic books and articles and served in multiple positions in university administration1 and government.
Smith and Flentje are interviewed by Karl Brooks and Spencer Graves.
Copyright 2025, Michael Smith, Ed Flentje, Karl Brooks and Spencer Graves.
_______
1. P. 141, “About the Contributors in Smith and Flentje, eds. (2024) Reform and Reaction: The Arc of Kansas Politics (University Press of Kansas).
