They still seemed the clear-cut 'heroes' of the story, just that they weren't these flawless beings and have made some bad mistakes in the past.
I'm not sure I can call them heroes, when it's obvious that the win at Hoover Dam is entirely the Courier's doing. The Courier is, unfortunately, a Faceless and Voiceless character so we can't really say they're the hero in the story.
Is NCR better than caesar's legion? Mister House? From most conventional moralities, so it seems.
However, the good karma "Courier" ending (see New Vegas endings) under Independent seemed the best for me.
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Fallout:_New_Vegas_endings
I just think that although NCR wasteland would be duller it is a safer, freer and better wasteland that the other people put forward.
I just don't know. Annexation is rarely a pleasant process and if it goes smoothly, it solely due to the Courier. It's not a BAD ending but that energy could just as easily be sent to making an independant Vegas.
Independent: though I understand the desire for more freedom, I still think it benefits people to be under a democratic government compared to no state. Plus, it is likely to end in another tyranny with the Courier as head.
I'm confused, what do you mean no state? A state obviously exists. It's the state controlled by the Courier. The SHAPE of that state, however, is left up to the imagination.
The Kings and Three Families provide an oligarchy even without Mister House.