It stuck out to me too. I think it may be the case that the writers at NYT legitimately believe that any responsible adult is a progressive, and if you aren't a progressive, then you're probably one step away from being declared incompetent.
It's not so much the insult to the states, but equating of solving problems in a mature manner with progressive politics. There doesn't seem to be any wealth redistribution or protection of underprivileged groups involved, so I'm not sure what's progressive about it.
"talking it out" rather than "us versus them conflict" (court) is the 'progressive' thing. Mediation over strongest-takes-all. It doesn't have to be about welfare or underprivileged groups to be progressive; that's a conservative canard. Look at marijuana legalisation, for example.
It's not so much the insult to the states, but equating of solving problems in a mature manner with progressive politics. There doesn't seem to be any wealth redistribution or protection of underprivileged groups involved, so I'm not sure what's progressive about it.