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Bill Cook of Sunnyvale wears a few tea bags during rally sponsored by the San... ( Gary Reyes )

Waving an American flag as huge as his distaste for the Obama administration, Sunnyvale trucker Dirck Jackman took his anger to the edge of Winchester Boulevard on Sunday afternoon to tell Washington to keep its hands off America's health care system.

"They're trying to nationalize health care, but I like it just the way it is," said Jackman, one of hundreds of protesters who showed up for a "Tea Party Patriots" rally against the government's health care reform efforts.

The equation was clear: More government equals less individual choice. And to prove it, Jackman showed that all politics are ultimately personal.

"My mother had two cataracts removed, two new knees and a new hip, and she's up and running at 79," he said. "With a single-payer system, she'd still be a long waiting list. And I don't want to be on a waiting list when I get to be her age."