The hero was not supposed to be meathead, or anyone else.
The idea was to softly degrade and overcome conservatism with Archie representing conservatism, the youthful Meathead was not supposed to be a liberal William F Buckley, destroying Archie in debates, he was just a part of the mix of anti-Archie arguments and perspectives coming from everyone, including the daughter and Archie’s wife.
Here is how the NYT’s describes it in their article on her death.
“”the Bunker family, led by an irascible loading-dock worker named Archie whose attitudes toward anyone not exactly like him – that is, white, male, conservative and rabidly patriotic – were condescending, smug and demonstrably foolish.””
Archie was meant to gradually lose all arguments while remaining likable and keeping the audience watching his death of a thousand cuts, soft, slow, humorously, almost invisible (evidently to many) accumulative cuts, as the audience “grew” along with Archie and his old fashioned views were slowly overcome as the seasons went by.
Do you recall that eventually Meathead was shown to be a philanderer? He was cheating on his wife and their marriage ended. After Edith died Archie was the complete and utter moral center of the show (then called Archie Bunker’s Place).