I agree. At the end of the day, Archie, the supposed conservative villain, was the hero. He always tried to do the right thing, and took care of his family, while Meathead, the supposed liberal antidote to Archie’s archaic way of thinking, ended up abandoning his family. All in the family was brilliant and groundbreaking.
It was also based on a British show and Lear’s relationship with his father.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_in_the_Family#History_and_production
My problem is that it seemed out of character for Meathead to abandon the family and move to a commune (especially given that he was “growing” as a person and recognizing when out in the working world was different from when he was a radical student). It was a convenient plot device to give Sally Struthers her own spin-off show when Rob Reiner wasn’t going to be joining her.
As much as liberals Norman Lear and Carroll O'Connor WANTED the audience to "hate" the stupid buffoon Archie, he ended up pretty much being right on a lot of things.
Even Nixon commented on it.
Nixon hated the way Meathead made fun of Archie and his love of country and his patriotism.
In the end, you watch the show now and realize that Mike is a complete dope.
As a youngster I "rooted" for Mike, because he seemed smart.
As an adult, I find that Mike is the epitome of "stupid liberal".
There are several episodes where Mike gets called out as phony-baloney.
One, where Lionel tells Mike how he acts like he's only friends with him because he's black.
In another, thieves break into the Bunker's house and Meathead attempts to "understand" the robbers.
Cleavon Little says "Oh, so you know all about living in the ghetto, huh?"
Agreed.