The very philosphies House follows pollute the NCR even before the Second Battle of Hoover Dam. House builds his empire on the idea of power being everything, and since the name of the game is economics, money is power. His is a society where one remains ambitious and productive and constantly tries to achieve more, the underlying philosophy being that those who could muster up the strength and the money to come out on top deserve to be in leadership positions anyways. House shuns ideals of everyone having equal voice and vote, because many people who are downright stupid and undeserving to lead would get a voice. Let money determine the size of one's vote, as money symbolizes one's importance to the community, does it not? This may (or may not) work in House's regime, but in the NCR? It's clear there's plenty of underqualified individuals who received their wealth via foul play, or simply by being more ambitious and greedy than another. Those that succeeded via foul play or ambition are still calling the shots irregardless.

Should the NCR lose to House, then democracy has effectively lost to capitalism, as capitalism has proven itself the stronger nation. But should the NCR win vs House and the Legion, the very people that rose to power via money and money alone are then validated and seen as successful, thus kept exactly where they are. Brahmin barons, bought-off senators and politicians, leaders on par with Alice McLafferty and Colonel Moore will remain, and thus the NCR as a democracy would seem to run not so much as a democracy anyways. Money would remain the underlying drive behind everything, keeping the same rich politicians in charge as the same greedy and borderline sociopathic individuals are rewarded for their drive and ambition.

And mind you, by no means am I calling House's regime corrupt. There are many faces of capitalism, the one within the NCR appears to be corrupt whereas the one within New Vegas doesn't seem to have much room for corruption, nor does it care what people do as long as money is being made. (AKA you get people like the Omertas being the jerkwads they are, but at least they're kept contained and have no way of becoming overly ambitious and gaining more influence than deserved.)

Nevertheless, I'm sure we all agree that in real world society today, it seems as though democracy and capitalism are at a crossroads. Hell, I remember reading a study just a week ago that showed a direct correlation between how likely politicians were to listen to the people and how much money those certain interest groups had (big surprise there). While none of us can say for certain what will happen in our world, it seems like no matter what the NCR does, it'll be the people with money and power dictating what happens, not so much the people themselves as a collective.

In that sense, hasn't the NCR as an idea already lost before it even began??

Perhaps, but if history is any indication, "capitalism" will always rule. In every societal construct, money has always been the deciding factor. Even socialism falls victim to it, as a collective would be responsible for funding any "government" project, and those who have more of it generally sway voting.

The NCR has its merits, but it looks to me they're working to restore the nation that has fallen, not so much as creating a new one. House doesn't strike me as one who actually cares about money, just control. The casinos on the strip aren't of his concern, as long as they toe the line of his rules. There seems to be a mutual benefit there, since House never seems to be without his necessities.

Even still, I can't stand the guy. One of these days, I'll play through by siding with him to see if my mind can be changed, but his arrogance grates my nerves the first time I meet him. Ugh.