King of the Hill and Conservative Principles

Tucked into a back room on campus, I found myself debating with one of the Yale Political Union’s last remaining conservative parties, with the resolution: Become a cosmopolitan. The room split sharply — some argued for steadfast loyalty to localist conservatism, others insisted it was our responsibility to ascend to the heights of elite society and reclaim cultural influence. When my turn came late in the night, I turned to an unlikely exemplar: Hank Hill. A Reagan devotee, assistant manager at Strickland Propane, and quietly loving family man, Hank is the archetype of the local conservative — an average American Joe, proudly rooted and resolute. But during the question and answer period following the speech, a flaw in my argument emerged: King of the Hill belonged to another era.

Airing from 1997 to 2010, the show lived in a post–Cold War, pre-MAGA moment — a world that still felt familiar and safe. Today, the ground has shifted. The revival of King of the Hill arrives in a new political landscape, asking the same question that lingered after our debate: Can a conservative still be that kind of conservative in the age of globalism and MAGA? Can we still have Hanks, or must he be replaced with something new?

About the Author

Raleigh Adams

Raleigh Adams is a recent graduate of Yale Divinity School. Her work has appeared in the Front Porch Republic, VoegelinView, and The Dispatch.

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Tucked into a back room on campus, I found myself debating with one of the Yale Political Union’s last remaining conservative parties, with the resolution: Become a cosmopolitan. The room split sharply — some argued for steadfast loyalty to localist conservatism, others insisted it was our responsibility to ascend to the heights of elite society and reclaim cultural influence. When my turn came late in the night, I turned to an unlikely exemplar: Hank Hill. A Reagan devotee, assistant manager at Strickland Propane, and quietly loving family man, Hank is the archetype of the local conservative — an average American Joe, proudly rooted and resolute. But during the question and answer period following the speech, a flaw in my argument emerged: King of the Hill belonged to another era.

Airing from 1997 to 2010, the show lived in a post–Cold War, pre-MAGA moment — a world that still felt familiar and safe. Today, the ground has shifted. The revival of King of the Hill arrives in a new political landscape, asking the same question that lingered after our debate: Can a conservative still be that kind of conservative in the age of globalism and MAGA? Can we still have Hanks, or must he be replaced with something new?