"No rulers where you're from, but you must have some sort of leadership, right? A council, or something like it?"

Because like all good Marines, he knows it to be fact that without order and structure, civilizations fall apart. Anarchy is the way of pirates and that's why they're such a hazard to society. Yes, he realizes too there's more nuance to it than that, but outside of tiny settlements like Beacon here, it matches with his experience pretty well.