Oops sorry!! I thought I had but I was rambling a bit toward the end.
I think free flags/downvotes are good for the simple point that people use them now, where in the past it was literally seen as a "waste" of voting power. As in you could reward yourself or others with real magic internet money or you could use that voting power combatting spam. Most people chose to reward. Now with free downvotes people can downvote without wasting their VP. I know that it is the main reason I have been throwing them around because I dont have to worry about my VP dipping too low anymore. There is potential for malicious use of them but I like to think that me and a lot of people I know use them pretty much on bid bot activity and genuine spam.