The Politics of Little House

I know that Michael Landon was a celebrity Republican, campaigning for Reagan many times. Yet, in LH as with Bonanza he was responsible for many episodes which confronted subjects such as racism, Jews, minorities - anyone who was different etc. If he was right-wing he's still someone I feel I would have liked in real life as much as I admire his television work. On Bonanza, Lorne Greene was another Republican while Dan Blocker was a Democrat.

Melissa Gilbert is a Democrat, I believe, while her ex, Bruce Boxleitner leaned to the Right. I really don't know much about the others in the show.

In real life Rose Wilder Lane became a seminal figure of the Right along with Ayn Rand.

Given the time frame of the show - 74 to 83 - how do others view it in terms of politics? Did it lean more Right or Left or was it somewhere in between? I've always thought that the Waltons and Little House (at least in the beginning) had that whole hippy back to the country vibe that was present in the late 60s and early 70s. Musically, the Byrds, Dylan, Gram Parsons, Crosby, Stills, Nash, Neil Young, Jackson Browne (another Liberal) and Joni Mitchell were all popular during this period and the Eagles were just beginning.

In America during the time of Little House's original airing, there wasn't as big a gulf between conservatives and liberals as there is now.  Looking at the show now, I don't think it really leaned one way or the other.  It did have the sensibilities of its era, though.  

This doesn't just apply to Little House, but to any show set in the past.  It slightly feels like cheating when the writers give characters modern views about things like racial equality, Indian rights, etc.  I understand why they had to do that, but it always makes me laugh when someone in the 19th century miraculously has social views a hundred years ahead of their time.