  I re-derive the lowest order effective Lagrangian for electro-weak symmetry
breaking without the use of Goldstone's theorem for spontaneously broken global
symmetries and without the assumption of a custodial symmetry. I consider the
breaking of a local symmetry with gauge group G down to an Abelian sub-group K
and construct a gauge-invariant functional with one free parameter v, such that
v=0 corresponds to a gauge theory with gauge group G, while v --> infinity
corresponds to a gauge theory with gauge group K.
