A quaker friend invited me to a strike debt event:

This event is for everyone with debt, who hates debt, who understands enslavement by debt and wants to end it. To prepare for this meeting, background and study materials are at: strikedebt.org.

Which got me thinking: you can opt out of debt. Even if you already have lots. If you feel enslaved by it and want to remove yourself from the debt system, you can go through bankruptcy and have your debts forgiven. [1] The downside is that people won't lend to you in the future, but that's not a problem if you're opting out.

[1] A few categories of debt survive bankruptcy: child support, student loans, some taxes. People with them can't fully opt out of the debt system. This seems bad: in as much as bankruptcy is important for helping people get back on their feet I don't see why these categories should be special.