We're going to keep seeing this "unprecedented spending" until we make Citizens United illegal again. Corporations (& the rich) should not be able to buy elections directly, or indirectly. Corporations are not people.
Pretty crazy that this is legal in a "modern-day democracy".
Because America is deeply corrupt and unjust while pretending otherwise.
The United States is honestly a pretty old democracy compared to other developed nations, many of whom rewrote their government systems following WW2. Most of those new nations did not adopt the presidential / tripartite system adopted by the US.
There is some research that suggests the presidential system is not particularly stable and the success of the US may be a historical anomaly.
I've been telling people a lot lately, that out of the entire planet, America is the oldest government in the world now. Russia, China, Japan, UK, all of them are far newer than the US. We're out of date.