Stories of atonement, recovery, revenge and inspirational leadership interlace in this compelling tale of an America striving to renew from deep internal divides that nearly destroy the United States in the year 2041. Recognizing that the Golden Rule of treating others as we would want to be treated is a unifying principle able to bring people across faiths together with those who don't believe in a higher power, President Marc Phillipi launches a Constitutional amendment campaign to require government laws and actions to conform with the concept. Along the way, he encounters stiff resistance from those intent on maintaining differential treatment for the powerful. Before he can pursue that campaign, the President follows the Golden Rule by joining U.S. soldiers he orders into battle against those who brought weapons of mass destruction inside U.S. borders, learning the horrors of warfare from intimate proximity. Escaping the wreckage of a compound attack during that war, multi-billionaire drug cartel leader and technology guru Ramon Mantle attempts to build a new life torn from the wealth and power that defined him just days before. Before he can rebuild, he must first survive the pursuit of those desperate to hold him accountable for his past. When the founder of New Rite, the world's largest survivalist training and weapons development company, settles on a new mission, he involuntarily enlists University of Chicago Professor Paul Stark into creating and running a new global trial structure to test the guilt or innocence of those accused of the world's most heinous, but prosecution-ignored slaughters. New Rite's special operations team sets off on missions to eliminate the convicted using newly created, DNA-triggered weaponry as part of the founder's effort to eliminate collateral damage. One of the accused, a former Iranian general suspected of mass terrorism, uses his notoriety in an attempt to cower the U.S. government into accepting Sharia Law rather than risk widespread devastation. Along the way, nineteen-year-old Abril searches for a new place in the world after her convent aspirations are torn from her, fifteen-year-old Clarissa Coleman seeks salvation from suicide with a dangerous mission to save other young girls from lives of torment and Congresswoman Jill Carlson, the girlfriend of Professor Stark, seeks achievements she never dreamed possible when growing up on her family's Indiana dairy farm. University of Chicago students Juan Gonzalez, Rachel Cruz and Tamika Jackson gain platforms to insert their intellectual firepower behind Golden Rule adoption. The Golden Rule may be the single concept incorporated into every major faith and the views of secularists, but making it a formal part of how any nation is governed comes with extraordinary challenge. Can dedication to principle overcome entrenched powers? Can those who seek an integrated world that respects others overcome those who demand segregation or pursue integration only through forcible conversion? Can anyone with unchallenged power to kill be trusted to use that power for the betterment of mankind? Doing Unto Others tests those questions, and many more, in a compelling, twisting tale that leaves readers wondering who to trust and questioning the future facing the world if we continue on our current path.
About the Author: Doing Unto Others is Mike Bushman's third novel in a series questioning the consequences of an increasingly divided United States of America and an even more disjointed world. Melting Point 2040 and Secession 2041 tell stories describing the painful effects of this division. Once deadly lessons of allowing and even encouraging division are clear, Doing Unto Others suggests a path to renewal that builds on the central uniting Golden Rule theme often taught to elementary school children but frequently ignored by government leaders. Mike's fourth book, Suicide Escape, is a unique combination of novella and memoir in which Mike reveals his painful struggles with deep depression as a teenager in a story interwoven with the struggles of 15-year-old Clarissa Coleman. All of Mike's stories are set in the future, reflecting his view that the best method to understand the right decision today is to deeply explore alternatives and consider their long-term consequences. Mike earned his MBA from the University of Chicago, with honors, in 1997. His undergraduate journalism degree was earned from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1986, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the student-run Daily Illini newspaper. Prior to turning to writing full-time, Mike served as Washington Director for a U.S. Congressman, was head of global policy for a multi-billion-dollar sustainability services company and held executive responsibility for investor relations and global communications at that company. The father of two young adults, he has been married to Cathy for 27 years. His volunteer activities center around the outdoors, youth development and mental health.