Merely knowing that a group is rational and utilitarian (or at least, that it claims to be) doesn't narrow down what it is very much.

Interesting. Those were sidelights for me as well. What was definitive for me was the statement of the community's top-most goal.

What you've stated instead is that you're trying to prove your hypothesis, which is, I hope, wrong--rather, you're investigating whether your hypothesis is true, without the specific goal of proving or disproving it.

Agreed.