“The Common Cause” podcast, hosted by Reps. Phil Lyman, R-Blanding, and Rep. Mike Petersen, R-North Logan, is billed as a “bird’s eye view of the Utah State House of Representatives.”
The latest episode, released on Dec. 31, featured a lengthy discussion about Utah’s digital driver’s license program. Their guest was a woman billed as “Salty Annie,” who is active on several right-wing Utah Telegram groups. She did not give her real name.
After discussing their concerns about privacy, data security and concerns about personal information used for purposes other than government identification, Lyman asked their guest what she thought the end goal was for the groups who “push digital driver’s licenses.”
”I’m not sure you want me to say this, but the U.N. has a foothold in Utah,” Annie said.
What followed was a smorgasbord of anti-United Nations conspiracies on how environmental programs put forward by the global organization, like Agenda 21, Agenda 2030, and the organization’s Sustainable Development Goals, are designed to “make everybody be essentially slaves” under the guise of ending poverty.
The fantastical claim was accepted without any pushback or hesitation by the two elected members of the Utah House.
Utah’s digital driver’s license program is set to launch this year.
Agenda 21, a U.N. resolution on sustainable development, has spawned conspiracy theories about socialism and eugenics. Another conspiracy claims Agenda 2030, which sets goals for sustainable development, is a plot involving COVID-19.
In 2019, the U.N. held its Civil Society Conference in Salt Lake City. Even though it happened more than two years ago, there are persistent worries in Utah fringe groups that the organization is preparing to unleash tyranny on the state.
”The U.N. is based in New York. The U.N. is also based abroad. The only other place the U.N. has ever held a meeting in the United States outside of New York is Salt Lake City,” Annie said. “You have to ask why? What is going on there?”
Lyman speculated the push for digital driver’s licenses was the first step in multinational corporations, in league with the U.N. buying up water rights and private property in Utah. ”It’s not just good old American companies. This is a world takeover. It’s a huge transfer of power. People think it’s a conspiracy theory when you tie it to a digital driver’s license, but it’s the same people that are doing it,” Lyman said.
You can listen to the full episode here: The Common Cause - With Phil Lyman and Mike Petersen
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