Maybe it's just me but when I watch old TV shows I have lots of questions.
When I see Michael Landon on 'Little House on the Prairie' driving his wagon I wonder if he had to get a drivers license or a registration tag for his wagon.
When I watch 'Bonanza' I wonder if Ben Cartwright' had to have a permit from the EPA and the DEP to dig a pond on his property
When I watch the 'Waltons' I wonder if they had to have a logging permit to cut the trees for their lumber mill or if they had to worry OSHA would come by to inspect their operation.When I watch 'The Andy Griffith Show' I wonder why someone who walks into the sheriff office with a shotgun is not immediately arrested and turned over to the ATF
When I watch 'Gunsmoke' I wonder if Miss Kitty had to worry about filing her taxes on April 15th or if the blacksmith had to have an occupational license and liability insurance to run his shop.
When I watch any old western I wonder if the train engineer, fireman and conductor had to be a union members or if the rail road had to get Army Corp Engineer permits to build the railroad over rivers and streams
When I watch the 'Rifleman' I wonder if he had to fill out a form and get a background check to buy his rifle.
I wonder if John Wayne in any of his westerns was concerned if he would get sued for busting up a saloon.
I think it would make an interesting spoof to do a movie set in the 1800's and apply modern day laws and conditions. I would love to see Tom Selleck do a movie where he would play a rancher. I could see him building a new home on his property and the code enforcement people would show up with the health department and try and stop him because he did not get a clearing permit or building permit or septic tank permit or pay his down stream pollution charges, or electric permit or plumbing permit or get his plans approved through the neighborhood development commission.Sometimes my mind wanders and I think how would our forefathers have handled all the restrictions we have in our lives today.
