BILLIONAIRES and BAGMEN

Are you fed up with politics, payoffs, corporate mega-profits at a cost to taxpayers, immunization of white collar crime, bribes and favors guiding the decisions made by our elected officials? Have you had ENOUGH of politics? There is only one way to fix it – rewrite the rules. It can be done!

Midwest Book Review “Highly Recommended”

Billionaires and Bagmen: What Happens When A Small Town Takes Them On, offers a surprising solution to the question many people are asking since the Conventions: How can we take our lives back from an over-reaching government, Wall Street power brokers, lobbyist-written laws, the billionaires who buy them off and candidates we don’t like?

His answer is for local governments to simply ignore Big Brother’s rules and write their own. All across America, town by town, regardless of who is president or who big money controls. It’s called Civil Disobedience.

History is full with examples of people refusing to abide by laws they consider unjust or immoral. In Billionaires and Bagmen, Bourhis explores the possibility of a whole town doing just that. This entertaining political thriller, described by the Midwest Book Review as “deftly crafted and compelling,” also a blueprint of how it could be done.

Sean Cogan, a funny, prickly, charismatic economist turned venture capitalist, is convinced that our system is no longer “of, by and for the people,” that all three branches of government are bought and paid for, and that reform efforts are a complete joke. He believes that no matter who happens to be President, we have become a nation held in a vice grip by powerful billionaires, corrupt multinational corporations and their bagmen: the politicians and lobbyists who carry out their agendas.

Billionaires and Bagmen - What Happens When a Small Town Takes Them OnHe gathers up a few old high school friends in their small town and decides to shake things up. Sean convinces them that if something dramatic doesn’t happen now, the very concept of self-government will become obsolete.

He heads to town hall, plunks down $250 and registers an initiative to be put on the November ballot for his hometown of Fairview to declare its independence from everybody. Jen Renton, a gorgeous, burned-out corporate lawyer who has morphed into a Tibetan Buddhist massage therapist; Ollie Waterson, Sean’s political opposite, with an “Don’t Tread On Me!” bumper sticker on his HumVee and a couple other friends become part of his team.

From a savvy newspaper reporter to a secretive former CIA agent who knows how the game is played to the idiot alcoholic mayor of the town who tries to sabotage the initiative to a controversial talk show host with an agenda, things start to spin out of control. Particularly when the powers that be in Washington become concerned that this independence movement could take on a life of its own.

Cogan and his gang plow ahead in spite of the collusion of spies, lobbyists, a controversial talk show host and a whole boatload of other unsavory characters. It’s an exciting, scary and dangerous ride.

The climate for real change ripens. But is it too late?

BILLIONAIRES and BAGMEN is available for purchase in ebook and print formats.

"In a novel that reflects current anxieties, concerns, believes, and attitudes of an enormous and growing percentage of the American public, "Billionaires and Bagmen: What Happens When A Small Town Takes Them On" is a deftly crafted and compelling read that clearly establishes author Ray Bourhis as an exceptionally skilled storyteller. Very highly recommended for community library General Fiction collections.." - Midwest Book Review

"A rousing political thriller! I haven’t been this entertained since “All the President’s Men.” –Thomas Steinbeck, Author of The Silver Lotus

"With the perspectives of a skilled lawyer and longtime activist, Ray Bourhis captures the disenchantment many of us feel over government surveillance and political corruption, and the desire to regain control over a system that is clearly out of control. Whether you identify with Occupy or the Tea Party, Billionaires and Bagmen is an engaging, must-read." –Peter B. Collins, veteran radio host.

"If I were in charge of education in the United States, this excellent book would be required reading for every single college student. The book is possibly the most powerful and poignant way to explain the serious problems that are destroying our once fine country (and what to do about fixing them). This is one of the most relevant and powerful political thrillers I’ve read in ages. Highly recommended." –Gill J. Ingalls