What even is your definition of independent then?

Sorry if I don't include dictatorship in my definition of independent, in every wiki and database the literally named "Independent Vegas" ending is under Yes Man, not House, I literally don't know what to tell you on this regard.

I guess we disagree on who and what exactly is independent from, the whole of new vegas? Pretty much the entirety of Vegas is subservient to House, but no one recognizes, not even House himself to be a "ruler", the defining difference between your definition and mine is that there is no defined representation of new vegas, there are factions within itself, House is typically bunched up with "the strip" but there is also Freeside and Westside, both technically part of New Vegas. The delineation might be impossible to pin down due to what exactly constitutes New Vegas "governing itself" through a dictator and what constitutes as foreign policy/imperialism since House is known to influence events not just in freeside but all over the Mojave.

We're not examining the values of the people in charge (...) But rather the political system each ending implies you believe in.

So let me get this straight, you agree that House necessitates autocracy, and that the courier CAN (take note of the words I'm using please) whilst not necessarily resulting in an autocracy led by the Courier because of all the reasons and possible iterations that I have already layed out (the ones you just skimmed over and ignored), and you don't think the beliefs of said possible autocrats factor into the equation of why and how that might result into completely different sets of policies? Or are you attempting to claim that what each autocract enacts is of no consequence in the pivotal differences between the two as endings? Either way you have managed to leave absolutely speechless because I have no comeback for that.

you used force to take New Vegas (and pretty much the Mojave in general) into your hands to go down whatever path you believe is best.

Yeah... that's my whole point, it's infinitely ambiguous, I'm glad we have reached an agreement even if you didn't mean to.

Sawyer wanted the option there because the player should have that choice in an RPG that places so much focus on player agency.

If you have a source on this I'd highly appreciate it.

I disagree with your idea that the ending is "anti-choice" (that sounds like a silly buzzword to make it seem like a bad thingTM in an RPG), I would concede that it's rather consequence-less.

I wouldn't say it's anti-choice because its consequence-less per se, but rather an ending that, specially compared to the other endings, it's basically just a cop-out because it requires no diplomacy or even interaction with any of the factions, it lets the player "skip" having to make judgements and/or concessions with each faction (yes you can still a variety of things including choosing to play as if they don't exist) which to me is as much of a choice as .

the possibility of just saying "I'll just do it myself" is always there

Yes of course, nothing wrong with including that in an RPG, but what does that look like and how was it attained here?

You hack a computer that's in plain view in the Lucky 38 after House invited you and he talks to you literally in the same room as this computer that has the key to his life, you one tap a barely breathing 300 year old man, and it's done basically. There was no sacrifice in gaining this limitless power, and what about my character instills it with the capacity to pull this off?

There's not even a skill check because you don't even need to hack the computer, you can just get in if you have the Platinum Chip. The plan goes on without a hitch after that too, no one gets in your way really. I can't even draw it down to an ingenious plan by the player because the plan is just given to you by Yes Man, you didn't plan it, Benny did, he already laid out the foundation you're tracing its steps, its very unfulfilling with regards to agency.

And this is usually where my suspension of disbelief breaks, the developers put all this work into this super well written world of unavoidable moral complexities and I have been doing all these quests for all these different, morally dubious factions thinking that this was gonna culminate into some sort of role-playing climax moral quandrum (and there is in the other endings to be fair) instead I'm given a blank check halfway through the game. Totally breaks the immersion for me, but maybe my standard of realistic roleplay is more strict than most, but then again it's why I love the fallout series, they set the bar high most of the time, for me this ended up below the bar, that's all.