For one BYU-Idaho student, anger caused him to take action.

Peter Nguyen, a freshman from Portland, Ore., recently became vice president of the College Democrats of Idaho. So what’s the big deal? Nguyen is a Republican.

After coming to BYU-I, Nguyen became very aware of the common conservative, republican view on campus and throughout town.

On one occasion, Nguyen was sent a text message saying, “You suck, Republicans rock!” in response to an article he wrote about the Republican Party’s recent run-ins with the law. Furthermore, the BYU-Idaho College Republicans boast of being “the best party on campus.”

After being at BYU-I for a time and becoming aware of these political trends, Nguyen became curious as to whether there was a democratic group on campus — there wasn’t.

“When I found out, I felt strongly that it violated an important principle of government,” Nguyen said.

This principle, that there should exist a balance of political views, came from the discovery that BYU-I’s chapter of the College Democrats of Idaho was not active. This became a turning point for Nguyen, moving him to ask students what they thought.

“I mentioned it to a couple of students,” Nguyen said. “[Some said] they don’t need to be here.”

Hearing that was enough. Nguyen moved into action.

That’s pretty insane,” Nguyen said. “As I saw more of the demographic, I was turned off to the brand of Rexburg Republicanism.”

Nguyen decided to make the Democratic chapter active again and become its president. To Nguyen, the fact that he is a Republican and has never voted for a Democrat in his life doesn’t matter.

Nguyen doesn’t like the current politics of the national Democratic Party, but does admit some favoritism toward the old school days of the Democratic Party. Even with this favoritism, who would honestly pick a Republican to be the vice president of a democratic organization?

“He was chosen because he is one of the most active and innovative presidents of a college democrat chapter in the state,” said Angela Carpenter, president of the College Democrats of Idaho.

Under Nguyen’s leadership, BYU-I’s chapter became one of the most politically involved chapters in the state, with four to 30 people attending weekly meetings.

While Nguyen has entered a sea of Democrats he is putting himself in an excellent position to accomplish his ultimate goal as vice president — to destroy the notion that Democrats are evil.

Nguyen’s second goal is to appeal to a wider audience.

“Don’t just appeal to college students; go out and meet people who have been involved,” Nguyen said. “Like a grass roots campaign, knock on doors, ask who they are, what they value.”

There are currently between 350 and 400 College Democrats of Idaho members statewide, a seemingly small number. For now Nguyen is just trying to make changes, regardless of his political convictions.

“Hamilton and Madison disagreed, there was a great compromise and that was the birth of the United States Constitution,” Nguyen said.

Think about it.